


Altered History: Echos on Ood Sphere

by TKelParis



Series: Altered History [3]
Category: Doctor Who (2005), Doctor Who: Eighth Doctor Adventures - Various Authors
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 13:43:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 22,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13147914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TKelParis/pseuds/TKelParis
Summary: On another major journey the Doctor and Donna land on a planet of beings aware of him, but he doesn't know them. The danger compels him to reveal more about the past he is still fighting against, how he fears the Moment is still haunting him. And Donna sees reason to share his worries.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cassikat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cassikat/gifts).



> Disclaimer: Imagine what might have been had the Movie turned into a series as originally intended. What else could have been? So... still not mine by a long shot.  
> Dedication: cassikat, who kept pressing me to write more of this series. Thanks to Camp NaNoWriMo, I got started on this story when the others stalled hard.  
> Author's Note: Now the series starts providing more answers about the differences the Eighth Doctor's still being alive has caused, and the effects on events from other Doctors' eras. And it's clearly leading toward more. Please, go back and read the first two stories, The Runaway Bride and Prophecies and Pompeii, before reading this one.
> 
> And cassikat? Sorry the rest isn't ready. Life and getting sick didn't help things. Thankfully, tardis_mole was kind enough to make the time to ensure this first part was.
> 
> Also posting in honor of all of my December-born friends, including dtstrainers and serenityslady. Hope y'all enjoy this, and I look forward to seeing you both at Gallifrey One. (It's been too long.)
> 
> I suppose it's worth mentioning that some of the lines in the first chapter were influenced by both the Big Finish audio “Max Warp” and the BBC documentary “The Petrol Age”. The former is an Eight and Lucie adventure set on a space station in the future, and involves both spaceships and a mystery. (Worth finding!) The latter is a four-part series all about British automotive history, and hosted by Paul McGann. I will admit that I originally watched it out of an idle curiosity about the history of cars and had discovered it via a YouTube search for stuff PM was in. While he definitely made it more enjoyable to watch and listen to, I think I would've still found it interesting with a different host; there's a lot of interesting history surrounding the evolution of the car.
> 
> And no, you won't find the full thing on YouTube anymore. I enjoyed it so much I may buy a copy. While Amazon Prime members can stream it, it isn't shown in the order I saw on YouTube, the order it was aired in. Oh, and the closed captioning is off. As in comically off.

**Chapter One: Signs of a Bumpy Ride**

_The Vortex Time and Date Impossible to Determine – Even by the Time Lords_

“Are all random journeys this insane?! It's like an out of control roller coaster or Waltzer!”

The Doctor was not unused to hearing his companions react wildly to time eddies creating a difficult journey. Yet Donna was the first to make _that_ comparison. And he was having as much trouble holding on to the controls as she was.

“We're nearly through!” he promised. “It's a little time eddy.”

“ _Little_?!” she squawked.

“All right,” he quickly conceded, sensing potential consequences if he didn't placate her a bit. “Not so little. More towards medium-”

She let out a loud squawk of disgust. “You better not be understating, Spaceman! Someone could get sick from this!”

He winced. “I've seen everything from excitement on some companions' faces to becoming space-sick. Lucie nearly gave a spectacular demonstration of that once.”

Suddenly they landed. It was not a hard landing, but enough of a jolt that they stumbled with the effort to keep on their feet.

Still, it was a relief that he could stand without holding on to something. “Okay, I set the controls to random before we started. So we're on the start of our mystery tour. Outside that door could be any planet, anywhere, anywhen in the whole wide…. Donna, are you alright?” he added, his excitement draining instantly in reaction to her pale and wild-eyed fright.

“Terrified,” she admitted, turning to look at him. “I mean history’s one thing, but an unknown alien planet?!”

“You're not thinking of going home, are you?” he asked, a bit uneasy at the thought. “Not after all those promises that you'd be there?”

She scoffed, pointing at him in warning. “Don't. If I couldn't be scared off after you put the fear of God in my mum and then I nearly got buried alive in Pompeii after nearly being stabbed to death by twisted soothsayers, then this won't.”

No, a woman who could face down the entire Gallifreyan senate without flinching – and be entirely in the right – was not easily scared off. Only Donna could have done that. Or would have. He smiled gently as he walked over to her side. “Donna, I know what it’s like. Everything you’re feeling right now. The fear, the joy, the wonder, and all those other feelings that pop up. I get all of that!”

Her mouth slackened. “Seriously?! After all this time? You're not taking the mickey of me, even after all those promises that you would avoid lying to me?”

He grinned impishly. “Why do you think I keep travelling the universe and time like I do? And lying to you? That's asking for another slap, isn't it?”

She squealed. “Oh! All right then, you and me both!” She hurried to the door, and paused to turn around to look at him. “This is barmy! I was born in Chiswick. I've only ever done package holidays. And now I’m here.”

He laughed as he put his satchel over his shoulder. “And how would you describe it, Donna?” he asked, a hint of delighted laughter in his tone as he ran a last check of the outside.

“This is so… I mean it’s…. I don’t know, it’s all sort of, I don’t know what the word is!” With that she opened the door and exited. And promptly stopped still as her body registered the snowy surroundings. “I’ve got the word. Freezing!”

“Donna!” the Doctor cried as he rushed out after her. “It's quite cold out. You should-”

She shoved him further out. “Just for not checking on the temperature you can wait out here while I get my coat!”

“Well, well, well, in my defense-” 

But Donna had closed the door. Sure, he had a key and could easily go inside. But he wasn't interested in risking the Oncoming Slap again.

“-you were in a big hurry. Come on, Old Girl,” he groaned aloud. “You couldn't tell me the temperature before and save me the embarrassment of looking like I don't care in front of the one companion who would have no compunction over slapping me if I make a huge mistake?”

The TARDIS chimed, evoking the tone of angelic singing.

He fought back a growl and turned to look out over the surroundings, glaring off in the distance. “That innocent whistling routine does not fool me. You had to pick _now_ to be temperamental?”

The door opened. “Who's temperamental?” Donna asked.

The Doctor turned and stopped. He knew he had hardly seen any of her clothing collection and rarely noted what his companions chose for themselves unless it was absolutely unsuitable for the historical period, but he blinked at the sight of Donna's coat. He could not figure out her sense of style. Or any Earth woman's style, for that matter. “Well, Donna Noble, citizen of the Earth, are you better now for standing on a different planet?”

“Lovely, thanks.”

“Comfortable?”

“Yep.”

“Can you hear anything inside that?” he asked, motioning at the lined hood.

“Pardon?” she answered, holding her hand up near her ear with a hint of a smile.

He burst into laughter, unable to keep up the pretense. “May I assume that I'm forgiven?”

She grinned. “This time, Spaceman.”

“All right, as I was saying, citizen of the Earth-”

He cut himself off as they heard a rocket. Then a large spaceship loomed overhead, moving past them.

Once it was far enough that they did not need to yell to be heard, Donna grinned at him. “A rocket! Blimey, a real, proper rocket! You've got a blue box, he's got a flipping Ferarri! Come on, let's go and see where it's going!” she cried as she hurried after it.

“A Ferrari?!” he exclaimed, hearing echoes of Lucie's teasing when they landed during a space exhibition. “What's that supposed to mean?”

Donna giggled at his tone as he caught up with her. “Oh, Doctor! You really are too easy to wind up! I merely mean that his looks impressive whereas the TARDIS could be easily underrated.”

He scoffed, hands in his pockets and not quite letting go of the sting he felt. “You do realize that many people who have ships that big are compensating for something?”

If Lucie could hear him now. She would be laughing herself sick over him saying something she was far more likely to say.

Donna snorted. “Seen it with blokes with their sports cars. So some things don't change even across time and space, eh? Your own people are guilty of it. Pretending to be wiser than they really are in their case.”

He thought back to that space exhibition with Lucie, and sighed. “Well, more of them might be about mid-life crises, as Lucie once said. Although I can't argue the point about my people.”

Donna looked at him as they walked through the snow. “Given how you last spoke of Lucie without the distraction of something else happening at the same time, the memory must be a good one.”

His eyes whipped to meet hers. “What do you mean?”

This time when she touched his arm she maintained the contact for several seconds as she spoke. She had noticed that touch seemed to focus him on the present time. “Every other time you've mentioned her, it was either while we were in the middle of something and so you were a bit distracted by frustration or something else. Or you were full of remembered grief. There you almost seemed happy despite still missing her. I assume she teased you as much as I do?”

A smile slowly cracked his tense face, and the relaxing effect of her words and touch radiated through his body. “She did. I wasn't used to a teenager on the cusp of adulthood challenging me as she liked to. And yes, she set the bar very high. You're up there with her, even after only a linear month.”

Donna tried to not let on how pleased the comparison made her; praise from him meant something. “Must not have been around many women from my time-frame, then. How long has it been since...?”

The Doctor had to give her a silent look of thanks for not saying the full sentence. “Almost 50 years, by your measure of time. Some days the pain is as strong as it was when it happened.”

“That's grief. It comes and goes in waves. Eventually we learn to cope and adjust, although some refuse to think it'll happen. It never goes away completely, and yet we can be happy again. However unlikely it seems. I still miss my gran and my dad's parents, but it's no reason to let it consume my life. They wouldn't have wanted that for me, and I doubt Lucie would want you to keep mourning her forever.”

His eyes widened as his gaze returned to in front of him.

Donna waited a few seconds to let that sink in before she continued their walking chat. “So... tell me about this memory. What did she say or do?”

He chuckled, coming out of the little shock she gave him. "Well, she did accuse me of being a rubbish date when I landed us amongst 'boys with toys', as she put it. Took almost every chance to prod me about my interest in boosters or my saying that we were looking at the latest and greatest in space-ship designs.”

“I wonder what you'd be like at a car show,” Donna mused. “I can see you wanting to be like those early car drivers, wearing piloting goggles as you tried breaking the speed record.”

He laughed, neither confirming nor denying it.

“Are you more of a classic cars or vintage-?”

She cut herself off when the Doctor suddenly stopped and looked around with big eyes. He seemed unfocused, like he was placing something that hit him right then. All traces of growing joy had vanished in an instant.

“Do you hear that?” he asked, quiet yet urgent. “Donna, take your hood down!”

Donna drew up next to him and lowered her hood. “What? I don't hear anything.”

“An erie music, like a song. It's coming from that way,” he said, leading her.

She followed him until he sped up. “Here!” he cried, kneeling before an alien unlike anything Donna ever imagined. The head looked almost like a pale, pink-like version of the characterizations of Martians in movies, except for where the mouth ought to be. She saw little tentacles instead, and an opaque ball was attached by a wire to the grey suit covering the partly snow-buried being.

“What is that?” Donna blurted out, holding back in disgusted shock.

“Donna, he's dying,” he scolded her as he ran the medical probe over the being. “Although I don't know what he is. I've never met his species before.”

“Sorry,” she said, kneeling next to the being. “Can you help him?”

“I'm trying! I don't know where the heart is. I don't know if he's got a heart. This scanner isn't giving me the information I need! Talk to him, keep him going.”

“Doctor.”

They both started as they noticed the globe in his hand glow as he spoke, but the Doctor was the one who spoke. “Yes, I'm a doctor of sorts.”

“Yes, just what you need, a doctor. Couldn't be better, hey?” Donna said.

The being moved the hand holding the globe. “No. You are the Doctor.”

“You know who I am?” he asked, eyes widening. “Who are you? What is your species?”

“I am an Ood. Designated Ood Delta 50.”

Donna picked up the globe, talking into it like a microphone. “My name's Donna.”

“I don't think you need to do that, Donna,” the Doctor said absently, trying to solve the new mystery while placing what he had heard about the Ood. “You've been shot.”

“Doctor, the circle...”

“No, don't try to talk,” Donna urged.

“The circle must be broken,” Delta 50 said, insistent.

The Doctor was baffled. “Circle? What do you mean? Delta 50, what circle?”

There was no answer. The Ood just looked right right him, blinking slowly.

“Delta 50? What circle?”

The Ood suddenly sat up, roaring as his eyes glowed red.

“Get back!” the Doctor shouted, dragging Donna away and getting between her and the Ood. But then Delta Ood 50 collapsed, the red leaving his eyes completely as he stilled.

“He's gone,” Donna breathed. She gently pushed her way in front of the Doctor.

“Careful, Donna. I don't know what caused that, but what just happened cannot be good,” the Doctor insisted.

But Donna just knelt beside the Ood, stroking his head. “There you are, sweetheart. We were too late.”

He watched in awe as she posed the Ood's hands in a more formal gesture. Her practiced manner was enough to make him wonder how recent her other grandparents' deaths had been, or if she had lost siblings. This was a woman almost as practiced in losing people as he was, if he wasn't exaggerating in his mind.

Donna looked up at him. “What do we do, do we bury him?”

“The snow will take care of that,” he gently told her, trying to not be moved by the sorrow in her eyes. Was that a hint of shame over her earlier reaction? “Perhaps we'll locate his people and they can come for him.”

She had to accept that. Donna paused a few extra seconds for a silent prayer for the Ood before standing.

“Come on,” he whispered, holding out his hand. He was not surprised that she took it readily. It was rather cold for someone of her body temperature and he expected she would pull it free to remain warm inside her coat pocket, like the other was doing.

She held his hand for at least two minutes more than he expected, her feet not moving from her vigil over the Ood. Yet she was absolutely silent, something he could only name one or two times she was like that around him.

He sighed when she finally retreated her hand for the warmth of her coat. Even his hands sought refuge from the cold. “It doesn't seem natural for you to be this quiet,” he reflected aloud.

Donna looked up at him. “Why did his eyes go all red? And who could have done that, shot him?”

He might have finally found a companion who could change the subject as readily as he could, and yet wouldn't let him push aside their own concerns. Aloud, all he said was, “I suppose we've found why the TARDIS chose here as our random destination.”

“If she chose it, then how is it random?”

“Seemingly random until we discovered what trouble has found us,” he rephrased.

“Well caught, Doctor. So what are these Ood when they're at home? Or is this one species you know little about?”

“I've heard references to them, but I suspect the sources were biased. Mildly telepathic species. That was the song. His mind was calling out for help.”

“I couldn't hear anything. Guess I'm clearly not telepathic.”

“Few Humans naturally are.”

“So he 'sang' as he was dying. How do the Ood and Humans cross paths?”

“I don't remember. Even if I did, I'm now sure I would have interpreted the sources correctly. History is written through two biases, the writer and the writer's culture, and interpreted through two more, your culture and your own.”

“It's also written by the victor, and places blame on the vanquished. So much of the history being taught is still rife with those mistakes. I doubt your people are immune to it. Although... given how different you are from your people, both to hear you tell it and from what little I saw of Gallifrey, I imagine yours would be a bit unusual. You still need to correct the record so they acknowledge you for being Lord President.”

He had to smile at the dryness of her remark, even as he hid the cringe at the thought of fighting to have his three different faces preserved in marble. “You might be giving me more credit than I deserve. As you've noticed I can miss the details that make up the big picture.”

“But you see the big picture and potential consequences. So... what consequences are we facing today?”

He shrugged. “I don't know. And I suppose we're here to find out. Usually when you see something like that red eyed reaction, there's some outside force acting, like a stronger mind powerful enough to take them over.”

“Then we're keeping toward where that rocket went?”

“Yes. Maybe then we'll find out why he seemed possessed at the end there. I hope this isn't another time I have to worry about something influencing things in my path.”

“You mean... that weapon you defeated? But how could she still cause trouble?”

“Very easily. She already has.”

“What?!”


	2. Crashing Into the Future

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I updated Chapter 1. Please go back and reread before reading this one. Sorry for the delay. Still working on the rest.

_March 4, 2004_  
_East London, England_

“I said to land _outside_ at _street level_. Why are you insisting on setting down _inside_ and near _the roof of the building_?!”

The TARDIS gave no answer other than a whine through her normal noises.

The Doctor sighed and leaned forward. “You detect Nestene energy, and then park rather close to it? Shouldn't that put us in danger?” He paused a moment, and then shrugged. “I suppose it might make things easier. Although I've never dealt with them all alone before. Well, a first time for everything.”

He had lost track of how long he had been alone since he finally put the long series of adventures and disasters after his battle with the Moment behind him. Or rather, he hoped the latter series of events were behind him; he sensed someone with a time signature that made his skin crawl was following him on some of those adventures. Not that he wished to think about it, especially with a new danger. He focused instead on the readings as he indulged his bad habit of thinking aloud to himself.

“Since the Nestene home was damaged by the beginnings of the skirmishes that could have been the Time War and there are still time pockets of trouble, but why would they be all the way out here right now? Is there any connection with the rather Humanized ones who thought they were in Thorington? I thought they were more than ready to just live their lives.”

His eyes darkened with shadows. “Unless those military types decided to make them work for them. I wouldn't put it past that commander. But with the Cold War over and Uzbekistan independent again, how would they be here in London four years _before_ those events? And more to the point, _where_ in London am I?”

The readings gave him a general idea. “East London, but very little about exactly where I am.” He shrugged. “This is going to be just like most adventures; not enough information at the start. And occasionally not much more at the end, either. Very well. Time to go and stop as much destruction as possible.”

He put on his satchel, checked the readings for any life-signs or indications of active Nestene beings, and then exited the ship when the coast seemed clear. Once he closed the doors he looked around. No sign of anyone – Human or otherwise. He walked slowly through, listening intently and scanning with eyes and sonic.

In the next room he stopped still. “This can't be that easy. Is that a Nestene relay?”

The rectangular object with flashing lights and a familiar sound was right in the open. Like it was daring anyone to touch it.

“Will luck be with me?” the Doctor pondered aloud. “Or is it a trap? Okay, here goes.” He ran the sonic over it, checking for how it worked.

Several seconds later he was frowning. “No signal. No sign of the Nestene itself. So they're not here, but this is being prepared for something. And this won't respond to the sonic at all. Oh, dear. And I have no explosives on me. Wish I'd kept some of Ace's Nitro-9 in the TARDIS after all. Better go and see what else they have in here.”

With that he also drew out an additional scanner to look for any signs of animation or other life. He moved as quickly as he dared.

“Okay, this is a warehouse of some sort,” he mused quietly after an over two-hour investigation that led him to the basement. “But for what purpose? This isn't secure enough to be a weapons facility, or any military installation. So why are the Nestene here? They need plastic to animate.”

“It has mannequins.”

How did he miss another person being there?! The rough male voice behind him made him whip around and then he stilled as a familiar scent hit him. His eyes went huge. “Oh, hello.”

Not that he knew the man by sight. The taller man, with stern blue eyes, stood in his dark trousers and green jumper covered by a dark coat. The leather look and short hair felt like a continuation of the look that the Doctor chose after his ordeal on Gallifrey and was still, although it looked different on the other man. (Never mind that the Doctor had grown back his hair, albeit much shorter than before.) But the sight of what had to be a sonic device in the other man's hand would have suggested who he was.

The man gave a tight grin, with a hint of amusement. “Hello, Me. I see you missed the stacks and rails of clothing to see this is a shop. Although these places were never our thing, were they?”

It confirmed what his nose and time senses told him. Although he wasn't sure what he thought of the attitude. And the accent made him force thoughts of Lucie away; while not identical any Northern accent was enough to make his hearts clench. “Which regeneration are you?”

“Ten,” the other him answered, after a brief pause – as if considering how much to say. “The one after the one who was supposed to end the War. Had it gone through as... a certain being wanted, I would've claimed to be the Ninth Doctor and denied the previous me's existence.”

“Given the visions I've had about what would have happened I'm not surprised. So why are there two of us here? Since you have my memories, you must know.”

Ten rolled his eyes. “Can't say. You know how Time Crashes mess with our memories,” he declared as he walked deeper into the warehouse, forcing Eight to follow if he wanted to keep talking. “Remembering something too soon creates dangerous paradoxes and other fantastic problems. You know that. It's why we sometimes choose to forget things until the memories are needed.”

Eight grimaced as he proceeded cautiously. “So I become more charming with age. Brilliant.”

“Nothing like some good old insults from a previous incarnation,” Ten tossed over his shoulder with a manic grin. “Although our first regeneration was the best at it. The next two regenerations certainly gave him plenty to mock.”

Echoes of the words 'clown' and 'dandy' rang through Eight's mind, and a tiny smile briefly cracked through his dark mood. Not the least because there could be some dispute over which name applied to Two and Three, respectively. “I can only imagine what that version would have made of our Fourth or Sixth regenerations' clothes.” After all, Four had barely been present during the Time Crash involving the first five of them. Their Sixth regeneration would have earned any (and every) insult the First had cared to toss his way, despite being the only one of them who could have carried off that look. Eight refused to think about the other reasons Six would have earned One's scorn; it was too soon to go there even in thought. “So... what _is_ going on? Why are the Nestene here this time? And why are we both here?”

“I have my suspicions. Must be some meddling that was supposed to match what was to be. You being here is the change; it was originally just this me. Although I do remember enough from your earlier scans that I was able to check in from another side of the building. Means I'm better prepared to finish the job. What brought you here?”

“I detected Nestene energy on Earth. Tracking it brought me here. If you landed on the outside is that why I couldn't land outside like I tried to?”

“Probably. The TARDIS hates being too near another version of her, and you know it.”

It was Eight's turn to roll his eyes. “And how does that help us send the Nestene off, and figure out why two of us are needed?”

“Hello?”

The single word echoed from a distance inside a nearby room. A young, east London female accent, tinged with nervousness.

But to the Doctors it was like a gunshot. Ten dropped his sonic as his head whipped towards the sound.

Eight's face went pale, almost drowned by his eyes as he stumbled over some boxes. It drowned the noise the sonics and the scanner made from falling, although he felt Ten's hands grab him before he could cause any other noise by crashing into more items. “How can _she_ be here?” he whispered. “She's in the TARDIS. How could she have got out?!”

Once he was sure Eight was stable enough to stand, Ten leaned over with his own scanner for a look into the open doorway. He kept one eye on the target in question as he checked the readings. “Scanner says it's a Human girl, close to 17 years old,” he whispered. “And although the accent is different and the hair calmer... she has the same face.”

As he spoke, the girl's voice filtered over, obscured by his words.

“You think she wouldn't be capable of changing things to fool us?” Eight snapped, the whisper carrying a sharp bite.

“Just reminding you to act with caution,” Ten shot back.

Eight's shoulders went rigid as his face tightened. “Pot, meet Kettle.”

“Is there someone mucking about?!” the girl's voice yelled, like a whip snapping.

The scanner picked up something else. Both Doctors looked around and realized they had something more pressing than the possibility that the Moment had somehow reformed her body. The mannequins inside the glass displays in the hallway began twitching and they could see some moving more freely inside the room.

“Nestene,” Eight breathed. “They've started the process.”

“Which means we need to move fast,” Ten noted as they listened to the sounds of the girl fleeing the mannequins and stumbling over items. “And it's better that a teenager's body isn't found here. They've already killed one person.”

“What if it's a chance to rid-”

“It's too soon in the timeline.”

“What?!”

Ten glared at him. “Our chance will come, but it's not today. Now, get ready to help me fend them off in case it takes longer than I expect. And my being here might disarm her if it _is_ her since I'm the one she expects. As soon as I tell her to run, head for the lift directly down that corridor,” he added, pointing to the west side. “You get it ready to move as soon as we join you.”

With that he slipped inside the room.

“I hope you're right,” Eight muttered as he checked behind them. He did not trust that the display cases were enough to hold the Nestene inside and had his sonic at ready.

A few tense seconds later he heard the girl suck in a breath, and Ten say, “Run!”

Eight burst into a sprint. He could hear two sets of footsteps follow him promptly, but he did not look behind him. The sight of the mannequins inside the containers trying to get out was enough. Shame the energy source was too far away to be deactivated from here.

The lift came into view, but not soon enough for Eight's taste. He aimed the sonic at the controls to make the doors open, which they did just as he arrived. He slipped right through and readied for closing them. “Come on!” he bellowed, holding them open with the sonic's steady pulse.

He saw Ten leading a terrified blonde girl at a run, and the mannequins were closing in. As they got close enough Eight prepared the doors to close, and he released his thumb off the sonic the instant Ten shoved the girl inside.

Naturally one mannequin got close enough to shove an arm into the closing doorway. The girl screamed, but Ten blithely grabbed the arm and, with a few seconds' effort, tugged it off. The doors closed promptly and the lift finally moved.

“At last,” Eight muttered under his breath. “Hope that was enough to make it breathe its last.”

Although whether a Nestene truly breathed was a good question. And from which part of the body? The arm? Or a place where the sun did not shine, to use a crude phrase?

“You tore his arm off!” the girl cried in shock.

“Yep,” Ten answered, scanning the arm with his eyes for any traps. “Plastic.” He tossed it to her.

With the destination already set for the street level, Eight risked a direct look at the girl who made his arm hairs stand on end and his skin crawl. She had the same face and eyes as the Moment, but the hair was not quite as wild and the expression was terror turning into indignation. Very like the teenager she physically appeared. And the accent wasn't the same; the Moment spoke with a tiny lisp that this girl did not have. Was that a good sign or were they being lulled into a false sense of security?

“Very clever,” the girl said, looking at the arm. “Who was that? Was it students?”

“Why would they be students?” the Doctors asked simultaneously.

Eight glanced at Ten in surprise, but the latter just motioned with his eyes to let him handle this.

The girl only then seemed to noticed Eight, and she blinked in confusion. Although she only hesitated to answer for a few seconds. “Because... to get that many people dressed all silly, got to be students.”

“Obviously you've never been part of one of those charity fundraisers that seem all the rage. So those were students with plastic faces and an arm that can be torn off?” Eight asked witheringly, finding little comfort in the lack of recognition in her eyes. “How would they breathe?”

Ten hid a smirk from the girl, but not from his earlier self. “Creative guess, but they're not students. As my friend here noted.”

“Well, whoever they are, Wilson will call the police on them,” the girl declared.

“Who's Wilson?” asked Eight.

“The chief electrician.”

“Wilson's dead,” Ten said as the lift stopped and opened. He stepped out.

Oh, Eight thought. That explained the earlier comment. He promptly followed, wanting some distance between himself and the girl.

“That's not funny! That's sick!” the girl cried, following them out.

“Mind your eyes,” Ten said as he used his sonic to ensure they couldn't be followed. He only stopped when sparks flew, signaling he'd jammed the equipment.

Eight noted through his own sonic that the lift would no longer go down, but was ready to go to the roof. At speed.

“My friend and I will finish this. You need to leave,” Ten added, walking towards a door he found earlier.

“Wait! Who were those people?!” the girl hollered as she followed right behind Ten.

“They're made of plastic,” Ten answered without looking at her. “Living plastic creatures. They're being controlled by a relay device in the roof. Which would be a great big problem if I didn't have this,” he added, showing a device he whipped out of his pocket.

Eight knew immediately what it was, and that they only had so long to use it. But he had to know one thing. While Ten spoke, he tugged the Seal out of his pocket and held it very near her for a split second.

“Ow!” she squealed, looking his way.

But he had already put it away, frowning the whole while. Static shock, that was what her reaction looked like. Not exactly what he was expecting. Why would she react that way?

“So!” Ten exclaimed, opening a door marked 'fire exit'. He saw what Eight did and immediately captured the girl's attention. “We're going to go up there and blow them up, and we might well die in the process. But don't worry about us, no. Go home, go on! Go and have your lovely beans on toast,” he chivied her out onto the street, not wincing visibly at any time. “And don't tell anyone about this, because if you do, you'll get them killed.”

He closed the door on her, and Eight breathed easier. “Come on, let's finish this.”

Ten paused as he fiddled with the explosive device. “Wait. Something's missing. Ah!” He suddenly opened the door again. “I'm the Doctor. You are?”

“Rose,” came the soft answer.

“Lovely to meet you, Rose. Run for your life!” he declared, waving the device a little before slamming the door and sonic-locking it.

“Why did you do that?!” Eight hissed at him.

“This way,” Ten said as he led them on a run back to the lift. “Because like it or not, we're going to meet her again. Best to let her think we think she's a mere Human teenager, whether she is one or not.”

“You mean you don't know if she is or isn't-?”

“Timelines, Doctor,” Ten interrupted as they rushed inside the lift. “Help me out here.”

As their sonics teamed up to force the lift to the top level faster than the engineers would ever have planned, Ten continued explaining. “Something important is settling into place and I don't dare mess with it. My past – that's your future – could be destroyed if I do. That girl was part of our time line from the start, back before Time was changed by you, and she has a role to play.”

Eight's eyes widened in horror. “And you're the poor sod who has to deal with her.” He winced. “How lovely to know that's all coming my way.”

“Less worrying about her, more getting rid of Nestene. Come on! Two sonics will work faster than one when we get to the roof!”

“Is the unit I found earlier what we need to stop?”

The doors opened. “Thankfully, yes!” Ten rushed in and attached the device to the main power source on the box. “No way to avoid the damage to the building. Only way to destroy this relay. Attempt to move it and we risk turning on the entire signal at full strength.”

“And we're not ready for it, not even knowing where they are.”

Ten avoided answered directly. “Help me here. Setting two-twenty-two!”

“About five seconds,” Eight added as they both aimed.

The timer set and beeped.

“Time to leave!” Ten boomed.

“My TARDIS is close. Come on!”

The Doctors bolted to the side room where Eight landed. He had his key out and opened the doors faster than ever before, practically flying inside.

Ten scowled as he closed the doors behind him without looking. “Ah. I remember this. Gave the word 'Gothic' a bad reputation.”

“You should remember that the repairs and changes remained a low priority since the near Time War,” Eight snapped as he began the dematerization sequence. “You going to help?”

“Yes.” Ten said no more as he helped smooth the escape from the first explosions outside. “And I need to guide you closer to my ship whilst avoiding Rose. Given where I made her exit she might pass by it. Give it a few minutes in Earth time.”

“Or I could materialise around or inside yours.”

“Let's not. Time is in enough flux.”

Eight glared at his future self. “Still?!”

“Key times in your future and my past are far too unsteady for my tastes. So we need to avoid making things worse. Besides, I remember your offer and my refusal. I just understand my grounds for it now.”

“Ah. Well, did we send the Nestene off?”

Ten shook his head slowly. “I don't think so. The main source is yet to be found, so we need to keep looking.”

“And you're going to see this... Rose again soon?”

Ten scowled. “Tomorrow, I think. And don't think your part in this is done yet. If we're both here then we're both needed.”

“But if only one was needed before, why two of us now?”

“Those changes because you stopped the Time War,” Ten said as they landed near his TARDIS. “There are some people who now need a little extra help, and they won't get it if there's only me. Now, keep an eye on the Internet for any searches about us.”

“The internet?! How did we make it onto there?!”

“Evidently Humans are more diligent and stubborn than we thought,” Ten answered, frustration dripping like drops off a soaked St Bernard. “Like it or not, we're becoming less of a legend and more common knowledge. Fortunately most still think we're nothing more than stories passed down through the ages. But soon enough... it'll be more challenging to hide. We have to learn to blend in even more, which means being wiser about our companions.”

Eight scoffed. “I hope you don't mean that we have to accept-”

“You don't,” Ten snapped, grimacing. “And best you know as little about that as possible. I already feel like I know more than I should, but at least I have hope waiting for me back home. See ya!” he waved as he exited on a run.

“Wait!”

But the doors were closed before he could move.

The Doctor groaned. “So I become a dark grouch, but at least I can run faster. And I won't be pushed around so easily. Good to know I'll get some height and muscle.”

A chime told him that the other TARDIS had departed safely.

“Good. Good, good. So... back to hiding... and waiting. Who or what could I possibly be looking for?”

The rest of his thoughts he chose to keep silent.

_And what does a girl that stupid have to do with us? What is the Moment playing at? Given how she's become debilitated when I show the Seal to her I was expecting her to collapse out there. If she were really Human it ought to have had no effect on her even with direct contact. And it's not made of materials that produce static electricity. So why did that happen?!_

“I probably won't like the answers when I find them,” he mused aloud after several seconds' silence.


	3. Going For Answers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eight and Donna learn more about Oodsphere.

_The Year 4126 CE_   
_Ood Sphere_

Donna's eyes widened as she heard the story. “You just assumed this girl who looked like the Moment was her reborn?”

The Doctor winced at his friend's tone. He hated being challenged so shrilly. “There are no such things as coincidence, Donna.”

“There are people who look alike, and they're not related at all. When I was five I saw someone the splitting image of Granddad. Shocked me when I called out to him and he didn't answer. There have to be people who happen to look like me in my time on Earth. Never met any of them, but a few people on my travels said they knew someone who looked just like me.”

“Those are superficial. I'm talking about senses that go beyond anything Humans can typically sense in your time. As I was saying, she sounded like the Moment and she reacted with a light shock to the Seal. There has to be a connection.”

“If you're going to take the mickey, I'll put my hood back up!”

They heard sounds, interrupting their budding argument.

“Hmm,” the Doctor mused. “Sounds like civilisation. Shall we?”

Not far away they discovered some buildings with the name Ood Operations on the sides.

“I'm not sure I like the sound of that,” Donna said.

“Well, they'll have the answers we seek. Ready to tell a lie to learn to truth?”

She managed a little smile. “I guess you're going to lead the way?”

“Just to be sure you're safe. Or if they insist on the man leading. Can't cause a revolution before we have answers. Now I think I see a tour group we can slip right into, if we hurry.”

“I'm game. If we need to name a fake company we represent, may I name it?”

The Doctor shrugged with a grin. “Can't hurt.”

She laughingly accepted his offered hand and let him lead.

/=/=/=/=/

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Ood Sphere. And isn't it bracing?” announced the dark-haired woman who greeted a group of about fifteen through the snow-covered area. All were bundled properly against the cold, and they were attentive.

She quickly passed out materials. “Here are your information packs, with vouchers, 3D tickets and a map of the complex. My name's Solana, Head of Marketing. I'm sure we've all spoken on the vidfone. Now, if you'd like to follow me.”

“Sorry, sorry, sorry!” the Doctor said as he and Donna rushed up. “We're tardy. Don't mind us. Hello! The guards let us through.”

“And you would be?” asked the woman, not entirely suspicious.

The Doctor had the psychic paper ready. “The Doctor and Donna Noble.”

“Representing the Noble Corporation PLC Limited, Intergalactic,” said Donna, smooth as you please – as though she hadn't just thought of the fake company name right then.

Solana's face grew chagrined. “Must have fallen off my list, my apologies. Won't happen again. Now then, Dr Noble, Mrs Noble, if you'd like to come with me.”

Both of the time travelers started. “Oh, um, we're not married!” the Doctor said awkwardly.

“We're so not married,” Donna said at the same instant.

She would have added more if the Doctor hadn't subtly touched her arm. He had learned that too much protesting sometimes backfired, and a tiny shake of the head from him clued her that it was best to stop.

Solana shrugged off their words as if she was not convinced, but she was too polite – and well-trained – to challenge paying customers. “Of course. And here are your information packs, vouchers inside. Now if you'd like to come with me, the Executive Suites are nice and warm.”

As the group walked toward the door, a piercing sound wailed.

Donna frowned. “That sounds like an alarm.”

“Quite,” the Doctor muttered, eyes scanning in suspicion.

At last they were inside, nice and warm. A huge screen showed images of Ood Operations flashing behind. The Doctor and Donna stood to the side as they watched Solana give her demonstration.

“As you can see, the Ood are happy to serve, and we keep them in facilities of the highest standard. Here at the Double O - that's Ood Operations - we like to think of the Ood as our trusted friends. We keep the Ood healthy, safe, and educated. We don't just breed the Ood. We make them better. Because at heart, what is an Ood, but a reflection of us? If your Ood is happy, then you'll be happy, too.”

Donna kept a frown off her face, but she was pensive. And she was just attuned enough to the Doctor to tell he was skeptical of the words as well.

“I'd now like to point out a new innovation from Ood Operations,” Solana continued, walking to where three Ood stood in a row. “We've introduced a variety package with the Ood translator ball. You can now have the Standard Setting.” She turned to the Ood next to her. “How are you today, Ood?”

The first Ood picked up his translator ball from the attachment area of his uniform and held it smoothly up. “I'm perfectly well, thank you.”

Solana nodded and the Ood returned it to its previous place as she moved to the next one. “Or perhaps, after a stressful day, a little something for the gentlemen. And how are you, Ood?” she addressed the second.

“All the better for seeing you,” said the second Ood, but the voice was a sultry female's.

Donna shared a disgusted look with the Doctor.

“And the comedy classic option,” Solana continued before turning to the third Ood. “Ood, you dropped something.”

The Ood's voice was a cartoon character's: “Doh!”

The reps laughed uproariously. They and Solana remained unaware of Donna's lack of amusement and the Doctor's puzzled expression. The representative kept up her spiel. “All that for only five additional credits. The details are in your brochures. Now, there's plenty more food and drink, so, don't hold back.”

She walked away to applause, which the Doctor and Donna joined out of keeping their cover. He waited for her and the others to walk far enough away before he walked to the control board. Donna followed and watched he worked the controls.

“What was that sound at the end, Donna? You recognised it.”

“I suppose American cartoons aren't a Gallifreyan thing. I forget the name of the show, but that's the dad character. Portrayed on the dumb side and obsessed with donuts, with the belly to match. That was the sound he made when he knew he'd made a mistake. I saw it on one of the Sky import channel re-airings a few times between temp contracts. On my _rare_ days off. So... where and when are we?”

“Let's see what type of star system we're in and that will tell us a lot,” he quietly remarked. Soon it was on the big screen. “Ah! Ood Sphere, I've been to this system before many ages ago in another life, the first me to call himself 'the Doctor'. The planet Sense Sphere.” He chose to not mention learning that Lucie had met the Senorites when the Monk convinced her to travel with him. Or that the Monk taking her to meet them before when his earlier self had was extra clever in a twisted way, seeing as the First Doctor's meeting them was the first _anyone_ knew of the Senorites. Including Time Lords.

“Let's widen out to see when we are,” he said, wanting a distraction from his thoughts. After a little fiddling he had his answer as a slew of systems appeared on the screen. “The year is 4126. We're looking at the Second Great and Bountiful Human Empire.”

“4126. It's 4126. I'm in 4126,” Donna breathed.

“Quite the difference from those package holidays you mentioned,” he absently commented, focused on the readings.

“What's the Earth like now?”

“Rather full. But as you see, the Empire stretches out across three galaxies.”

Donna looked at the screen, transfixed. “It's weird. I mean, it's brilliant, but... Back home, the papers and the telly, they keep saying we haven't got long to live. Global warming. Flooding. I even heard that all the bees are acting funny, starting to disappear.”

That got the Doctor's attention. “They are?”

“But look at us!” Donna marveled, not quite hearing. “We're everywhere. Is that good or bad, though? I mean, are we like explorers? Or more like a virus?”

He paused, lips pursed. His sense of self-preservation had become stronger after Grace clobbered him with his own mallet, although he had failings every so often. Even though she had been suddenly possessed thanks to the Master spitting on her earlier. But Donna was sharpening his instincts, and they now screamed a warning. “Am I supposed to answer that?”

Some details on the screen caught Donna's eye even as she glared at the Doctor. “For later,” she warned him before refocusing. “What are the red dots?”

The Doctor checked, grateful for the breather from a Donna lecture, and frowned at the answer. “Ood distribution centres.”

“Across three galaxies? Don't the Ood get a say in this?” she asked before walking to the Ood standing nearest to them, the first Ood Solana had approached. “Um, sorry, but...”

The Ood seemed unaware, and she hesitated as she thought about how to get his attention. She settled for touching his shoulder lightly.

When it worked, she smiled. “Hello. Tell me, are you all like this?”

The Ood picked up his translator ball and it lit as he answered, just as it had for Delta 50. “I do not understand, Miss.”

“Why do you say 'Miss', do I look single?” Donna almost snapped.

“Back to the point, Donna,” the Doctor reminded her, having turned off the screen and come to her side within seconds.

“Yeah,” she muttered, acknowledging his reminder. “What I mean is, are there any free Ood? Are there Ood running wild somewhere? Like wildebeest.”

“All Ood are born to serve. Otherwise, we would die.”

Donna blinked, shaking her head slightly. “But you can't have started like that. Before the humans, what were you like?”

The Ood moved his head as if confused. Then he suddenly spoke. “The circle.”

“What do you mean? What circle?” the Doctor asked.

Speech seemed to come with difficulty to the Ood. “The circ... the circle... is...”

“Ladies and gentlemen!” burst Solona's voice into their awareness, snapping the Ood to attention. “All Ood to hospitality stations, please.”

The Ood put his ball away as he followed his cohorts.

The Doctor shook his head. “Don't know about you, but I've had enough of the schmoozing. I noticed the maps tells more than Miss Solana realizes,” he whispered, drawing a map from his jacket. “What do you say to going off the beaten track?”

In the background Solana continued, “Now, if I can introduce you...”

But Donna ignored her as she grinned at her friend. “Rough guide to the Ood-Sphere? Works for me!”

“And me,” he grinned back. He glanced for an opening. “They're distracted. Come on!”

They slipped back outside, using the map to locate their next step.

“Hopefully this is better than that other time you had to sneak around,” Donna remarked after several minutes. “It's not like there's some girl who's a threat here.”

“Solana might be. Don't underestimate her,” he said as he sonicked a fence open.

“Ood shift eight, now commencing,” they heard over loudspeakers. “Repeat, Ood shift eight now commencing.”

They climbed some stairs to look over into one of the fenced areas. Dozens of Ood were marching through the yard in a very forced manner. One of them fell to his knees as if exhausted. A man with a whip rushed up to the Ood, and used it repeatedly.

“Get up! I said get up!” the man shouted until the Ood managed to get back to his feet.

Donna's mouth had fallen open. “Servants? They're slaves.”

“Get up! March!” bellowed the overseer.

The Doctor stared in horror. “All those stories... it makes sense. And what one of my future selves muttered about them... Oh, dear. He saw them at some point before this in this planet's timeline. And he could do nothing to help.”

“That's not like you.”

He started at Donna's words, feeling a little warm as he cleared his throat uncomfortably in the face of her stunned yet trusting expression. “Thank you for the vote of confidence, but I'm not perfect. I've seen people suffer because I was busy. And the future me spoke like he was so busy he couldn't save them, that he had to let the Ood he encountered die. Well, I owe them one for that. Even if it hasn't happened for me yet.”

Four Humans, including two guards and one man better dressed than any, walked the now empty path in the yard. One Ood trailed behind them, as if attached by some invisible string.

“That looks like the boss,” Donna whispered, nodding at the suit.

“And we'll keep out of his way. Better not run into unwanted company. I have history with that. Although I'm better about picking the times they happen. Come on.”


	4. Investigations and Instigations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realized that I mistyped the title from the start. So I'm correcting it.
> 
> Also, sorry for the delay. A vacation gave me an unexpected downtime that I decided to use to get some stories updated.
> 
> And happy birthday to all my friends and readers celebrating December birthdays!

**Chapter Four: Investigations and Instigations**

_March 5, 2004_   
_London_

The Doctor listened carefully to the sounds his ship made as he waited in hidden orbit around Earth. Mercifully they were all normal.

“Normal is not something to ease my mind right now,” he muttered as he checked the scans. “How long does a check of the Internet need even in this era? I know the amount of data was beginning its explosion, but I didn't think even you would need this much time, Old Girl.”

A sudden, blunt chime sounded.

He glared at the rotor. “No, no, no! Don't give me a rude noise! I get enough cheek from you during our journeys. I don't need any now. And I definitely don't need to be looking at recipes or science websites! How in Rassilon's name am I connected with food?! Are you punishing me because you took my innocent comment as an insult?!”

At last the monitor stopped its rapid changing and settled on one image. After a shorter blunt chime.

He could have kissed the controls, but he was still irritated. So he ignored the chime. “Oh, thank you for finding something! Let's see what it is.” He frowned the instant he saw it. “A website? 'Have you seen this man? Contact Clive.' But... that's the Tenth me! Did he remember as me him saying to look out for this?”

He quickly went through what little existed of the site. “Nothing substantial. Just a contact email. Let's trace the ISP address, find where this man is. He may know far more than I want out there... Aha! London, of course. Now, let's try tracing the email traffic to and from that email. Oh... he's getting an email inquiry. Who's seen that me now?”

Seconds later his eyes flared in indignation. “The inquiry email belongs to a Mickey Smith, but the sender used the name 'Rose Tyler'. Lovely, she's started to investigate me. I suppose I should be grateful she's not found out anything about me. Yet. Time to see what this... Clive fellow knows. I hope it's nowhere near as much as I fear.”

He quickly went through the materialization sequence. “I want this over with right away,” he muttered. “Best use stealth mode. Don't want to be spotted.”

/=/=/=/=/=/

The Doctor slipped out of the TARDIS and looked around. “Right outside a back garden. Easy enough to get in; that lock is metal.”

Within seconds he had closed the doors, sonicked the lock open and hurried inside, pushing it back into place. He scanned with both the sonic and his handheld connection to the TARDIS. “Nothing seems out of the ordinary. What am I looking for?”

A pair of voices prompted him to hide behind a tree. The male he didn't recognize, but the female he did. “Her,” he whispered. “That girl who might be the Moment. They're heading for the shed.”

He waited until they were inside and then crept right up to the structure. “I know I have a stethoscope. I can listen in through that, and wait.”

He needed several seconds to get set up, but then the words started floating into his ears.

“A lot of this stuff's quite sensitive, I couldn't just send it to you,” he heard Clive say. The man sounded like he was in his element, talking about something he had studied for years. “People might intercept it, if you know what I mean. If you dig deep enough - keep a lively mind - this Doctor keeps cropping up all over the place. Political diaries, conspiracy theories. Even ghost stories.”

The Doctor flinched. “How careless have I been over my lives?”

“No first name, no last name. Just 'The Doctor'. Always The Doctor. And the title seems to have been passed down from father to son, it appears to be an inheritance.”

A scoff erupted from the Doctor's throat like a canon. Mercifully it couldn't be heard.

“That's your Doctor there, isn't it?”

Even without visual prompts the Doctor knew that Clive was pointing at a photo of Ten. But his eyes bulged at the phrasing and he paled. “He knows about more than one of me.”

“Yeah,” he heard Rose say even as he whispered to himself, making him shiver.

“I tracked it down to the Washington public archive last year. The online photo's enhanced, but if we look at the original...”

“I'm going to hear things I ought not know,” the Doctor murmured. “Yet I can't stop him.”

“November the 22nd, 1963. The assassination of President Kennedy.”

“Must be his father,” Rose said softly, in clear disbelief.

The Doctor smirked. “Wonder if he remembers my hearing that.”

“Going further back... April 1912,” Clive continued. “This is a photo of the Daniels family, Southampton. And friend. This was taken the day before they were due to set sail for the New World. On the Titanic. And for some unknown reason, they cancelled the trip and survived.”

“So their deaths weren't fixed points. I wouldn't want to mess with any more fixed points after Charlie,” the Doctor whispered, insides going cold over the memory of another lost companion.

“And...” Clive paused as if going through papers. “1883. Another Doctor. And look - the same lineage. He's identical. This one washed up on the coast of Sumatra on the very day Krakatoa exploded.”

The Doctor sighed. “Massive disaster. How like me to end up there.”

“The Doctor is a legend woven throughout history,” Clive continued, talking almost immediately. “When disaster comes, he's there. He has a storm in his wake. And he has one constant companion...”

“Who's that?” Rose asked.

“Death.”

The Doctor almost recoiled, eyes huge. “Is that how I seem? Like a monster?”

“If the Doctor's back... if you've seen him, Rose... then one thing's for certain - we're all in danger,” Clive carried on.

“You sound like a conspiracy nutter,” the Doctor muttered. “I do my best to save people.”

“If he's singled you out... if the Doctor's making house calls... then God help you,” Clive added grimly.

The Doctor forced his jaw to unclench. “Yes, God help _you_ if you're the reincarnation of who I think you are.”

“Who is he? Who do you think he is?” Rose asked.

“I can't wait to hear this,” the Doctor said, grim and tight.

There was a pause, as if Clive were considering the question. “I think he's the same man. I think he's immortal. I think he's an alien from another world.”

The Doctor was silent for a few seconds, wanting to remove the stethoscope and yet frozen in place. “What was the clue?”

“Yeah, thanks,” Rose said, sounding very distracted. “Look, my boyfriend is probably getting impatient. I'd best be off.”

“Okay,” Clive said. “Just remember what I said.”

The Doctor heard no answer. Just the sounds of papers bring put away and then footsteps moving away. When the door opened on the other side he lowered the stethoscope and risked moving for a better look. After hearing a lock turn, he watched as Clive walked Rose back into the house.

As soon as they were out of sight even through the windows the Doctor hurried to the shed's door. He made quick work of the lock and slipped inside.

“Oh, dear,” he whispered, taking in the inside. “This is almost a shrine to me! I don't need anyone thinking of me or any of the Time Lords as gods. This stops now. Shame there are so many things to go through, but I read fast. Maybe I can summon the Old Girl...”

But a quick signal through a sonic burst yielded a weird noise.

“What? You can't move?!” He groaned. “Have to follow the slow path here.”

He rushed through the papers out in the open, stuffing most of them into his satchel. Only ones that he knew were completely innocuous were left alone, and those were few. Then he broke into cabinets and found far more to snatch. “Mostly papers and photos. Good. Artifacts would be far more alarming.”

After a few minutes he heard an exclamation outside. “Oh, dear. Time to meet Clive.”

Seconds later the door flew open and the man he saw earlier burst inside. “You're breaking into my property!”

The Doctor stood as tall as he could and fixed a glare on him. “You have put your family in danger by having this. There are some who would have kidnapped your child for this, and there are people in the government who would arrest you for merely possessing it. I'm doing you a favour by appropriating every last relevant item.”

“Who are you?”

“Oh, you don't recognise me?” the Doctor asked, feigning disappointment. “Remarkable given all the things you have in your stash. I noticed that you didn't tell that stupid girl about the other men who have gone by that name. Interesting since she saw me as well. So she didn't mention this me? Good. She might be forgetting about me. Some of my previous incarnations would have been offended, and normally I would be, but I'd rather that she forgot this me.”

Clive's eyes narrowed as the Doctor talked, but then they widened as the penny dropped. “Oh, my god.”

“No. Just 'Doctor'. And all of them will tell you the same thing if you asked. No name. Just 'Doctor'.”

“So... all those men... they're you?”

He had verbally flipped Clive off and the man didn't notice. If things weren't so serious he would laugh. “At one point or another. Some of them haven't happened for me yet, and that includes the events you were speaking about. For the record, it's wrong to tell someone what's coming in their future, even a time traveler. They lose what freedom of choice they had to begin with. And I want to note for the record that I don't go looking for trouble. It merely finds me somehow. Every time,” he added quietly, fighting back the reminder of a conversation early in his time with Lucie.

“But if you're here and so's another you... is the danger worse?”

He decided to give some honesty. Clive did not seem like a dangerous person. Just perhaps someone who had spotted him during some event yet to happen in his own timeline. “Perhaps. Word of advice: keep your family away from places with mannequins and other large amounts of plastics.”

Clive's eyes went even larger. “Plastics?! How can they be dangerous?”

The impression of the roundels nearly made the Doctor smile, but he kept it to a twitch in his lips. “You don't want to know. For your sake and your family's sake, take down that website and change your email. Now. And deny you ever started it. Now... go back inside and don't come out for at least two hours. It'll take me that long to clear your things. And...” He drew out a USB device from his pocket. “Put this into your computer. It will wipe the evidence of your site and the communications.”

“But... some of the people I've met are good friends. We also talk about other things through the emails.”

“What's more important, your and your family's safety or some written exchanges?”

Clive opened his mouth, but had no answer.

“Correct. Now... get to it. And count yourself lucky if you miss the events that I'm trying to prevent.”

The Human wanted to challenge him. It was in his posture and eyes. But he was wise enough to know when to retreat. He nodded, accepted the USB, and sighed. “For what it's worth, I never actually spoke with that other you. I only saw the aftermath, but I got a glimpse of you. I always wondered if my insatiable curiosity would be the death of me, and yet I couldn't stop looking for more.”

“I have that unfortunate effect on people,” the Doctor acknowledged. “Get out while you still can.”

Clive nodded. “I suppose... in a way it's an honour to speak with you on peaceful terms. Just... keep my planet safe.”

“I will find a way to leave things better than I found them. That's a promise.”

He only hoped it would stand.

/=/=/=/=/=/

At last he was back inside the TARDIS, the job of removing any traces of his existence from that shed complete. And he made a point of being thorough. Which meant it took all of the two hours he allotted himself. Even with his fast reading there was still a lot to collect and eliminate.

“Well, let's hope Clive took me seriously. Would hate to have to return to enforce the changes. And what was the problem, Old Girl? You could have saved me a lot of time if you had just materialised around the shed. But no, you had to keep me busy the hard way. Did I have to hear all of that?! And don't chime at me this time. I have a lot to do and a lot is at stake!”

Instead of chiming some bells went off, as if talking.

The Doctor sighed. “Okay, fair point. I'm rattled, and for all I knew there could have been a trap set for you. Okay, so, what now?”

The TARDIS control panels looked normal on first glance, but then he noticed something. “That light shouldn't be on. What have you detected, Old Girl?”

He watched the readings pass by and paled. “A Nestene signal very close by. Oh, dear. Someone was captured by them right outside Clive's home. That's two signals. One was traveling in the car, and the other... It seems that the person was sent to the Nestene's hiding place. So they need whoever it is alive. You saw the girl walk to the same car? They must want information from the girl and learned enough to suggest she wouldn't give anything up if captured. Or they detect something that says it'd be trouble if they tried. Not the reason I would want to see. I hope that Ten is also detecting this. Because I'm going after the prisoner, not the girl.”

Just as he thought it he saw the signal flicker. “Oh, no, no, no!”

His hands raced through the tracing and dematerialization sequence. “Come on, Old Girl. Follow that signal and get me close!”

Just as the TARDIS landed the signal cut off.

He let out an inarticulate swear word. Even for Gallifreyan. “I hope I got it right. I don't want to have to hunt on my own.”

The Doctor went outside, putting on the satchel as he exited. With the doors locked he began scanning by sight. “The London Eye. Oh, dear. That could be used to broadcast the signal. No doubt I'm very close.”

The scanner in his hand flashed the silent alarm. “Nestene are near.”

“What about down here?”

He flinched at the words coming from nearby. “Her voice. What's she doing here?”

“Looks good to me,” he heard Ten saying. Then he heard two sets of footsteps running down some stairs.

The silent Nestene alarm signaled stronger. “Oh, dear. I need to hide. And the only way seems to be following Me and Her.”

So he went in the same direction, avoiding where the signals seemed to be coming from. Just before he lost sight of the TARDIS, he stilled. Four Nestene-infused mannequins approached the TARDIS and grabbed his ship. They took it and an opening swallowed them all.

“Oh, no!” he breathed. “Now I can't leave. Oh, I wonder how they knew. Have they got better at detecting me?” He looked around and checked the scanner again. “Oh, I don't have time for this! Time to take my chances and go in the same direction that my future self took the girl, Rose. Who may or may not be the Moment,” he added under his breath as he hurried to get down the grimy manhole. Thank the Eternals it wasn't smelly as well.

He took the journey through the red-lighted area carefully, scanning the whole way. “Some kind of pumping station connected to the underground network. That's far too many Nestene around for my journey to be straightforward,” he whispered. “I only hope Ten is smart enough to not get caught.”

“Doctor!”

His head whipped in the direction of Rose's cry, muffled by the corridors. “Oh, that's not promising.”

“That was just insurance! I wasn't going to use it.”

Eight groaned at the sound of Ten's frantic voice. “What the hell am I going to be become?”

“I was not attacking you. I'm here to help. I'm not your enemy. I swear, I'm not... what do you mean?”

The sounds of the Nestene Consciousness and doors flew his way as he sought a way in.

“Oh, oh no - honestly, no! Yes, that's my ship.”

As the plastic being roared Eight could tell from the hint of confusion that something was off. “Oh,” he realized. “It's my Old Girl, not his.”

“That's not true. I should know, I was there. I stopped the war overall but there were packets of activity - it wasn't my fault! I couldn't save your world! I couldn't save everyone!”

“Oh, no. Not a good picture of my future.”

And the presence of walking Nestene in his sight was not a good picture either.

“The Nestene has identified it as superior technology - it's terrified!” Ten said, evidently carrying on some explanation. Probably to Rose. “It's going to the final phase. It's starting the invasion! Get out, Rose! Just leg it! Now!”

Eight had to dodge several Nestene coming his way, using the scanner to find a path to lead him towards Ten to help him save the Earth. They were closing in.

Suddenly a sonic blast from seemingly everywhere sent the plastic group shaking, unable to continue the pursuit.

“Not looking a gift horse in the mouth!” He legged it. He would see what the scanners said about that blast later. It wasn't like he detected any speakers in the area.

His speed increased when he could hear the sounds of the signal running at what had to be full strength. And there were crashing sounds that suggested he would find it problematic to help.

“The stairs have gone!” shouted Rose. And a second later, “I haven't got a key!”

“We're gonna die!” cried an unknown male voice.

“The unfortunate kidnap victim. Stay out of their way and you will live,” Eight muttered as he squeezed through another tight spot to get to the chamber.

“Just leave him!” shouted the male voice.

“Shining example of what fear does to Humans,” Eight said as he saw the entrance finally in reach.

“There's nothing you can do!” the same voice cried out suddenly.

“Oh, it sounds like she's up to something. And that's not comforting me.”

“I've got no A Levels,” he heard Rose say. “No job. No future.” He heard the sound of something hacking against something else. “But I tell you what I have got. Jericho Street Junior School under 7s gymnastic team,” Rose's voice continued as a chain seemed to come loose. “I got the bronze!”

Eight made it into the upper levels just as Rose swung across the gap over the Consciousness. She kicked the two Autons holding the Doctor hostage into the vat holding the Nestene Consciousness. He saw a vial drop from one of their hands. “Anti-plastic,” he breathed, realizing what Ten had prepared to do.

It worked. The Consciousness immediately writhed and screamed in agony.

Eight managed to climb his way down to the level the TARDIS rested on. He knew Rose would be helped by his future self, and getting everyone out meant something he was not going to like. “Please stay locked away,” he whispered in prayer as he approached the frightened young man.

“Who are you?!”

“Right now, your friend and your ticket home. Come on!” Eight said as he unlocked the TARDIS. “The signal's been cut off, but this is about to collapse and I doubt you want to be here any longer.”

He could hear Ten and Rose hurrying their way to the TARDIS. Meanwhile he helped the young man to his feet. “And you are?”

The young man hesitated a second. “Mickey Smith.”

“Well, welcome aboard, Mickey Smith. Get in! Doctor, close the doors behind you!”

“Just get us ready to leave!”

Eight rushed Mickey inside, ignoring the inevitable shocked reaction. He rushed through the start of the dematerialization sequence, waiting only until he heard the doors close.

It felt like far too long before they did. “It's dying!”

“Then help me fly this back to the last place your TARDIS departed from!” Eight snapped back as he pressed the key button.

“Wait, what is this place?” Rose's voice was disbelieving. “Are you also an alien?”

“We need to concentrate!”

“Come on, Eight,” Ten retorted. “Ignore the stupid apes for a bit. We're there.”

A thump confirmed it.

Mickey ran almost backwards out of the TARDIS and fell over, eyes huge and skin far paler than it ought to have been. He backed against a wall, unable to take his eyes off the sight

Rose merely stepped out – albeit hastily – and hit a speed-dial on her mobile.

Neither Doctor could quite hear the conversation, but the laughter on her face and eyes told a story.

“Will you really have to offer to take her on as a companion?” Eight whispered, trying to hold Ten back.

It was a vain hope; Ten was far stronger. “It's in the timelines,” he shot back, walking to lean against the door frame.

“A fat lot of good you were!” Rose snapped as she walked to Mickey's side.

“Oh, have some pity on your boyfriend,” Eight scolded her sharply. “First alien encounter and he was kidnapped. I say it looks poorly on you for chiding him.”

Mickey's face changed from whimpering to surprised.

Ten had to hide a smirk, although he knew the twitching in his posture would be detected by his earlier self. “Nestene Consciousness?” He snapped his fingers. “Easy.”

Rose looked unimpressed, even as she smiled. “You were useless in there. You'd be dead if it wasn't for me.”

Ten glanced at Eight, wordlessly asking for silence. The latter's protesting face was a picture, which the later Doctor ignored. “Yes, I would. Thank you. Right then! We'll get my ship back, and then I'll be off! Unless, uh... I don't know... you could come with me.”

Eight wanted to gag as he watched Rose look at Ten, putting her hands in her pockets. “Just how young is she?” he whispered.

Ten heard the implication that Rose's actions suggested someone younger than she claimed to be and knew the meaning of her body language, but carried on with a tightly concealed tension washing through him. “My box isn't just a London hopper, you know, it goes anywhere in the universe free of charge.”

“Don't!” cried Mickey. “He's an alien! He's a thing!”

“I'm sure we'll talk later when you've had a chance to calm down,” Eight called out. “Discuss that speciesism you just displayed.”

“Yes, no invitation at this time for you yet,” added Ten. _And thank you for not making me insult him. He doesn't deserve it._

Eight straightened at the telepathic remark. What did Ten remember, and how much of that was influencing his actions now? Did he remember hearing this conversation from this side?

“What do you think? You could stay here and fill your life with work and food and sleep, or you could go, uh... anywhere.”

“Is it always this dangerous?”

Eight wanted to know how much of the hesitation he heard was genuine, and how much was an act. He wished he would never know, and dreaded the answer.

“Yeah,” Ten answered with a nod. Although who he was answering was a good question.

Mickey wrapped his arms around Rose's legs, looking like a small child in terror. Eight hoped that the young man would prove far stronger than that; he would need it. And yet he felt a strange sense from Ten. Like he knew him in the past and was saddened to see this repeat of his old behaviors.

“Yeah, I can't...” Rose's voice dripped with hesitation. “I've um... gotta go and find my mum and um... someone's gotta look after this stupid lump...” she finished with a little laugh, patting Mickey on the back. “So...”

Eight scowled. “That's an act,” he whispered at his future self.

“Okay.” Ten said. Again, it was difficult to tell who he was answering. “See you around.” He stepped backward and closed the doors.

“At last!” Eight breathed, tension draining from his body as he hurried to get them away. “How old is she? Those little actions, that's a sign of a child playing at being an adult.”

“If the Moment were fully influencing her actions then she would be more convincing, wouldn't she?”

Eight had no answer to that. But he had to keep on protesting. “You're seriously going to go back for her?”

“Because the timelines require it. She has a potential to help, and the people around her need to see that they're better than they thought they were. That young man, Mickey Smith? The idiot routine he pulls is an act because Rose endured things no one ought to and he wanted her to feel safe. I don't remember it all, but if I don't go back her mother and Mickey will not reach their potential, and it's vital that Mickey Smith reaches his potential. Don't let your worries hurt them.”

Eight stopped to listen to the time lines where Mickey was concerned, and he could hear a shining future. Sighing, he shook his head as he landed the TARDIS. “Okay, I'll trust you. Just be careful.”

“I have to be. I have a lot more to lose than ever.”

“What?!”

“To use a word you're going to come to hate... and with cause... spoilers. And thanks for landing so near,” Ten added as he headed for the doors. “You actually provoked Rose to act faster, and likely saved lives.”

“Wait, wait, wait!”

Ten stopped and looked back, a puzzled frown marring his face.

“If you were captured... then who made that sonic blast?”

Ten blinked, the frown instantly vanishing as he cast about his memories. “Oh. Good question. I think I once knew, but forgot.”

“Fantastic,” Eight muttered.

“Oi, that's my word now.”

“When did any of us have exclusive rights to particular words?”

“Some things make more sense with certain incarnations compared with others. Just like our clothes. Anyway, be careful. Keep your future and my past on track. See ya soon enough!”

“See ya,” Eight returned softly, watching as Ten bounded out and went to his own TARDIS. “Not happy to be ya in the future. Danger often comes from the last place you expect it. Be careful, Me.”


	5. Twists in the Tale

The Doctor walked through the snow-covered area, concentrating on the map as he determined which path they should take. “Okay, so there are a lot of places not properly identified on here. We need to find where the focal point of operations is and-”

 

A loud whistle stopped him in his tracks. He turned in its direction and realized Donna was the source. She was letting him know that he had walked past an unmarked, locked door.

 

He stared at her with huge eyes as he rejoined her. “Where did you learn to whistle? I've never heard a Human woman do it like that before.”

 

Donna grinned smugly. “West Ham, every Saturday.”

 

The Doctor got no further than bringing out the sonic when he turned to look at her, frowning. “Aren't there closer teams where you live?”

 

“My dad's brother lives near West Ham. My cousin plays for them, so he has season tickets. When I figured out the off-side rule he decided I'd be included every week. My whistle almost got my cousin into a fight because it distracted an opponent,” she added, flushing at the memory.

 

“I'll ask later,” he said, using the sonic to open the door. He had a feeling the story would be good.

 

The hallway led them in a huge hangar, filled with containers like a shipping warehouse. In the midst of it all was a giant claw lifting and transporting the containers.

 

The Doctor looked for where the claw came from as the enormity of the situation became sharper. “Ood export. So the claw lifts up the containers, takes them to the rocket sheds, ready to be flown out, all over the three galaxies.”

 

Donna looked at him, stilling and wide-eyed as he led her to one. “What, you mean, these containers are full of...?”

  
“What do you think?”

 

On opening the door, they found it almost completely filled with Ood. The beings stood motionless.

 

“Oh, it stinks!” Donna cried. “How many of them d'you think there are in each one?”

 

“A hundred, perhaps.”

 

“A great big empire, built on slavery,” she whispered.

 

“It's not so different from your time.”

 

“Oi! I haven't got slaves!”

 

“How much do you know about where your clothes come from? Do you think most people know?”

 

Her eyes turned into sharp steel. “Is that why you travel round with a human at your side? It's not so you can show them the wonders of the universe, it's so you can take cheap shots?! Not all of us have much choice in where we can buy clothes!”

 

“You know I don't bring Humans along for that! And how was I to know about clothing prices? I'm a dumbo when it comes to certain Human traits, as you've said.”

 

Donna chose to focus on the Ood themselves. “I don't understand, the door is open, why don't you just run away?”

 

“For what reason?” answered one Ood.

 

“You could be free,” Donna said, speaking like she had just been asked to explain passed down sayings she thought she understood completely to a non-English speaker.

 

“I do not understand the concept.”

 

That got both time travelers' attention.

 

“What is it with that Persil ball?” Donna asked, fixing on something specific. “I mean, they're not born with it, are they? Why do they have to be all plugged in?”

 

“Excellent question, Donna. Ood, tell me, does 'the circle' mean anything to you?”

 

“The circle must be broken,” all the Ood in the container suddenly said.

 

Donna recoiled. “Whoa, that is creepy!”

 

“Agreed. But what is it? What is the circle?”

 

“The circle must be broken.”

  
“Why?” demanded the Doctor.

 

“So that we can sing.”

 

“Sing? Like the song we heard from that dying Ood.”

 

“You heard it,” Donna corrected.

 

Alarms blared. Over them they could hear a computerized voice calling out, “Intruder alert! Intruder alert!”

  
“Oh, that's us! Come on!” the Doctor said, grabbing her hand and helping her run between the containers.

 

It was so twisted they had to let go of each other. Donna noticed something and stopped. “Doctor, there's a door!”

 

Unfortunately guards rushed in right through that door. “Don't move,” said one to her.

 

Further inside the Doctor suddenly realized he was alone. “No, where are you?!” he cried as he evaded the guards.

 

“Stay where you are,” the Guard continued as his colleagues grabbed Donna and pushed her into an open container partly filled with Ood.

 

“Get off me! Get off me!” Donna screamed just before the door was slammed in her face.

  
“Donna! Where are you?” the Doctor shouted back, trying to guess where he had to somehow double back to.

 

But he soon had bigger problems. The claw changed course and headed right for him.

 

“I never thought I'd be one of those toys Lucie tried to win,” he rasped, dodging the grab attempts. He tried a container, but it was locked.

  
Meanwhile, inside the container, Donna turned to her fellow captives. “Can you help me?”

 

Their eyes turned towards her, as red as the dying Ood's had been.

 

Donna shook her head wildly. “Oh, no, you don't! What have I done? I'm not one of that lot. I'm on your side! Stay where you are. That's an order! I said, stay! Doctor! DOCTOR!”

 

Using the containers as a shield kept failing. Even as his stamina was failing him, the Doctor kept pushing himself. “Got to get her out!”

 

But a fast movement from the claw drove him to dive to the ground, trapped against another container. The claw rushed him.

 

And stopped inches from crushing him.

 

Panting, he gasped a laugh. “A reprieve?”

  
He heard some guard approaching. “So Mr Halpen wants them alive,” he heard one remark as they grabbed him and led him away.

 

Inside Donna watched as the Ood approached as one, reaching out for her. “That can't be good. Doctor, get me out! Doctor, get me out of here!”

  
The sound of her muffled voice was a relief to the captive Doctor as they approached the container. “Do what she says or you're really in trouble. Not from me, from her!”

 

The clear leader grimaced but Solana, who was also there, glared in a silent command. So he nodded. “Unlock the container!”

 

Two guards opened the door, and Donna – with Ood hands inches from her – bolted out to hug the Doctor, who managed to shake off the guards enough to hug back.

  
“Doctor!”

  
“There we go, safe and sound,” he breathed.

 

Screams caught their attention. The Ood had electrocuted the nearest guards.

 

“Never mind about me, what about them?!” Donna cried.

 

“Red alert! Fire!” shouted the chief guard in the face of all containers opening, revealing more red-eyed Ood on a steady rampage.

 

“Shoot to kill!”

 

“Time to run,” the Doctor whispered and took Donna's hand to lead her quickly away.

 

They had one person in tow following them outside. After a bit he allowed them a rest so Donna could catch her breath and he could get some answers.

 

Yet Donna was first. “If people back on Earth... knew what was going on here...”

  
“Oh, don't be so stupid,” Solana said, in a tone that reminded the Doctor of Lance's tone towards Donna. “Of course they know.”

  
“They know how you treat the Ood?”

  
“They don't ask. Same thing.”

  
The Doctor had enough. “Solana, the Ood aren't born like this. A species born to serve could never evolve in the first place. What does the company do to make them obey?”

 

“That's nothing to do with me!”

  
“Oh, because you don't ask?” he challenged, sharp and short.

 

Solana hesitated a few seconds. “That's Dr Ryder's territory.”

  
“Where is he? What part of the complex? I could help, with the red-eye, and save lives. But I need you to show me!” the Doctor demanded, showing her his map.

 

Solana barely needed to look at her before pointing. “There. Beyond the red section.”

  
“Come with us. You've seen the warehouse, you can't agree with all this. You know this place better than me, you could help.”

 

The woman was silent, thinking about it for a few seconds before reaching her decision.

  
“They're over here! Guards! They're over here!”

 

“We'll have you!” Donna promised as the Doctor took her hand and hurried her away.

 

Two guards were in hot pursuit, but the Doctor was taking advantage of his smaller stature to create a diversion to buy them time to look.

  
“This way!” he told Donna, changing direction again.

 

Just as they nearly passed another door he stopped. “Oh, can you hear it? I didn't need the map, I should've listened instead.”

 

The door was unlocked, shockingly. He then used the sonic on the lock.

 

“Hold on. Does that mean we're locked in?” Donna protested.

 

The Doctor held up his hands. “Listen. Listen, listen, listen, listen...”

 

Donna frowned as she did, but then her frown fell in horror as her friend grabbed his head and groaned. “Doctor? Are you-?”

  
“Oh, my head!”

  
“What is it?”

  
He looked at her, finally able to. “Can't you hear it?” he gasped. “The singing?”

 

Donna's gaze followed where his seemed drawn to, and they found a cage with several Ood inside. Unlike the others they lacked the red eyes, and they drew themselves towards the back of the cage as they approached. To Donna's eyes, they seemed like frightened children. “They look different to the others.”

  
The Doctor quickly spotted why as he led her slowly towards the cage. “That's because they're natural-born Ood, unprocessed, before they're adapted to slavery. Unspoilt. That's their song we're hearing.”

  
“I can't hear it.”

 

The Doctor's eyes snapped to hers. He heard the curiosity, the compassion. “Do you want to?”

  
“Yeah.”

 

“It's the song of captivity,” he cautioned. “I'm having trouble coping with it and my species is used to telepathy.”

  
“Let me hear it,” she said, determined.

 

He sighed. “Very well. Face me. Please, no Star Trek jokes.”

 

She frowned but was silent as he placed his fingers on her head, evoking memories of watching Spock with her granddad. The seriousness of their situation ensured that she would respect his request.

 

“Open your mind, and prepare. Hear it, Donna. Hear the music.”

 

Where there had been silence Donna's mind flooded with singing. The skill would put the best Human choirs to shame, and would have made Donna's hairs stand on end for that alone. But the emotion, the plaintive lament, choked her throat and took away her ability to speak. Tears filled her eyes, clouding her vision.

 

It took several seconds before Donna found enough air to force the words through her lips. “Take it away!”

 

The Doctor could not believe she had lasted that long. Still, he did not go into someone's mind lightly. “Are you sure?”

  
“I can't bear it.”

 

He promptly reconnected with her mind through his fingers. In just two seconds he restored her natural barriers.

 

“I'm sorry,” Donna choked on her tears.

 

“It's OK,” he whispered as he touched her arms. Establishing something to ground her. Just as she had with him earlier. “Just stay with me.”

 

She found the ability to look back at him. “But you can still hear it?”

 

His eyes watered in the face of that massive compassion aimed right at him. “All the time.”

 

Loud thuds came from the door, bursting into their awareness.

 

“They're breaking in,” Donna said, fear creeping back in.

 

“Oh, let them,” the Doctor replied as he broke into the cage using the sonic. He led Donna inside, but the Ood drew as far back as they could.

  
The Doctor knelt to their level. “What are you holding? Show me. Friend.” He pointed at himself and Donna in turn, to highlight his softly spoken words. “Doctor. Donna. Friend. Let me see... Look at me... Let me see.”

 

One, evidently braver or more trusting than the others, slowly moved towards them. The movements were shaking with terror. And he was not using his hands to balance. Instead he – at least Donna assumed these were all males; it was hard to tell – kept them cupped.

 

“That's it,” the Doctor encouraged with a smile. “That's it, go on. Go on...”

 

The Ood opened his palms, revealing the small object he was hiding.

 

Donna sucked in a breath. She knew enough anatomy to spot a resemblance to something she knew about. “Is that...?”

 

“It's a brain,” the Doctor breathed. “A hind brain. The Ood are born with a secondary brain. Like the amygdala in humans, it processes memory and emotions. You get rid of that, you wouldn't be Donna any more. You would be like a processed Ood.”

 

“So the company... cuts off their brains?”

  
He nodded, unable to look away. “And they stitch on the translator!”

 

“Like a lobotomy,” Donna whispered, trembling at the enormity of the cruelty her species was capable of.

 

“The Ood are nothing more than a resource to Halpan and his corporation. Just like Lucie was to Hulbert Logistics. Just like you were to the Empress and Lance.” He paused, forcing the next words through the pain in his throat. “And like me to the Moment.”

 

“I want to go home.”

 


	6. Robes, Wigs and Trouble-Makers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now I finally give a little hint of something Eight referenced in the Pompeii story. However... the extra notes are at the end. Deliberately. You'll get why. :)

“What do you think you're doing?!”

 

The shout was repeated time and again as the Eighth Doctor ran through the streets of Rome. In Latin, of course. Not that he paid it much mind.

 

“Sorry, got a criminal to catch!” was all he would say as he raced along. And it was the truth. There was a hunted criminal, wanted across the galaxy, who had escaped his grasp after another adventure. And how the Draconian of the Draconians – nicknamed so by his people's enemies – had obtained a portable time travel device with a built-in perception filter was beyond him.

 

At length he had to stop as he looked at the sonic. “Oh, you slipped me again! Now where could you possibly be?”

 

Suddenly he was run over by another person.

 

“Oi!”

 

The other person's exclamation stopped any protest Eight was about to make. He looked up and his eyes widened at the sight of the future him he met in 2004 London. “You again!”

 

Ten smiled as he offered a hand to his earlier self. “After the Draconian? My scans know where he is. He's heading for Nero's Palace.”

 

Eight winced. “He's going to kill Nero and take over Rome.”

 

“And enough people hate him that his death would be welcomed. But the fire hasn't happened, and Vespasian is still years away from being ready to take over.”

 

“Yeah, as little as even I would regret his passing it's too soon. So... if you're here does that mean we're working together again?”

 

“Sort of. I have another problem to solve.”

 

“What?”

 

“You've met her already. She's been kidnapped.”

 

Eight's eyes narrowed. “Rose?! You took her with you after all?!”

 

“Stop it. She's been blaming others for her own misfortunes. She's young enough that I'm trying to teach her how toxic that is for her.”

 

“Forgive me if I'm not ready to accept that she might be different from her. Is the Draconian involved?”

 

“I could wish. Guess where she's being held. It's in the one place where I can't get into without attracting too much attention.”

 

Eight thought about it, thinking about the locations in the city where a strange man would be far too conspicuous. “Let's see. I'm not sure if the perception filters would work in convincing Romans that you're one of them, given how different your clothes are. There are several places, including some of the temples.” He paused. “Oh, no! Not the Vestal Virgins!”

 

Ten grimaced and nodded. “I need to write a manual for blending in better. Well, more like get someone I know to do it,” he added quietly.

 

“What kind of damage could she do if she spreads too much freedom? It'll set history back centuries! You have to get her out!”

 

“Well, I was more concerned about protecting her from randy Romans when I came up with her cover! Not my fault that trouble appeared that forced me to leave her where she ought to have been safe, and she wouldn't keep her little stupid ape mouth shut about women's rights to be anywhere in public. Would have to go through the authorities to get her out. But I have a bigger problem. The Draconian is ready to carry out his plan. Worse, the Romans have declared Rose must be executed as a sacrifice to one of their gods at the same instant I believe he will attempt to murder Nero.”

 

“Okay, this is a problem. Can't you use your TARDIS?”

 

“He's planted some field dampeners to disrupt time devices. Didn't you notice how tricky landing was?”

 

“Oh... yes, it was. I thought it was a time eddy caused by his rapid departure.”

 

“Well, that didn't help. But you tried to land closer and it didn't work. That's those dampeners at work. And believe me, I tried to look for a way around them for you once I realized where and when Rose and I landed.”

 

Eight rubbed his eyes. “So... what do we do? Did we befriend anyone who can help us?”

 

Ten groaned a sigh. “No. Rose wasn't keen to let me speak with anyone female. Not that I had many opportunities. It means one of us has to help Rose while the other goes for the Draconian.”

 

“Well, what are you waiting for? Help your friend.”

 

Ten grabbed Eight's arm, keeping him from moving away. “In case you've forgotten, the Draconian is very strong and about half a head taller than you. Oh, I'm sure you could catch him, but how much attention will you draw?”

 

“I'd rather deal with him than with rescuing an idiot who needed to-”

 

“And did I mention that the guards around the Vestal temple are on the highest possible alert? I checked already. Several of the guards are capable of seeing through a perception filter. We have to do it with a simpler disguise.”

 

“What else could work?”

 

“Someone has to go inside the temple.”

 

“But if we have no friends to help, and the guards will sound an alarm if a perception filter is used... that leaves going undercover as a Vestal Virgin! Do you even remember when I had to do that when Augustus was alive?!”

 

“Believe me, the memory of this event isn't much better on my side. But the alternative is far worse. And do you see me passing even remotely as one now? You have an hour to get there in disguise, or who knows what damage Rose will cause in trying to get out of becoming a sacrifice to Apollo. And you'll have to deal with the guards even more.”

 

Eight paled and swallowed hard.

 

/=/=/=/=/=/

 

“The later me deserves all the names I've thought toward him,” Eight muttered fifty minutes later.

 

He had given his appearance a few good glares inside the TARDIS before he left to make his way to the Temple. Luckily, he found the same costume he used all those years ago, before he had even met Lucie. Based on the chiming of the TARDIS, the Old Girl was trying to make things easier for him so he could get it over with. He thanked the necessity for veils to conceal his face. However, it had required a wig to create the right look. It had even then, but now it felt heavier.

 

He walked as though he were one of the Virgins on an errand. It was his best chance to get through.

 

“Halt! Who goes there?”

 

Ah, yes, It was about time to run into one of the guards. Although it was strange for them to attempt to stop one of the Virgins. Now to test how well his old woman voice worked.

 

“I am the helper of the Priestess. I carry the food for this evening.”

 

It helped that he knew the Temple's patterns from that previous time. Without it, he might have more trouble. At least the guards would know better than to touch him; that would incur the death penalty. Yet they were plainly on edge.

 

The guard relaxed a little. “You are unusually late.”

 

So it was still convincing. Good. “I know. I was intercepted by the guards of the Emperor, and I must convey a message.”

 

The guard stilled. “What commands does the Emperor have for us?”

 

“The girl who was captured, he demands that I bring her to the Palace.”

 

“The girl the City Auger says is a witch? She is to be sent to the Colosseum in three hours.”

 

“The Emperor heard of her and wishes to see her himself before she meets her fate,” Eight said, keeping calm. It was a hard ask, even with how much he disliked Rose. No one deserved that fate. Not even if their body might be a potential vessel for the Time Demon. He wondered if that was how the Auger was interpreting what they saw. If they saw a true vision. And that was a big if.

 

The guard sank in his shoes, face contorting sharply. “You will require two guards to escort you both. She has been confined away from the Virgins, whom she was once promised to. The claims the child makes! It is an abomination!”

 

“One that will soon not be our concern,” Eight assured them in his concealed voice.

 

Well, not Rome's at any rate.

 

“Very well. Bring the food inside and then wait for us.” The guard turned and went inside without another word.

 

Eight quickly – adjusting for his cover – brought the cargo to one of the ladies inside and managed to give it without a word. Then he returned outside. A quick look around to see if anyone was watching, and he slipped his hand inside the hidden pocket he created in the stola he wore, covered by the heavy folds of the palla. He checked the scanner. “No sign of the attack. Good. Ten still has time to stop him.”

 

He heard a muffled crying and winced as he put away the scanner. Donning his best expression of placidity he turned. It was no surprise that Rose – who had clearly been given a warning to wear the right items for a young Roman girl newly reached marriageable age – was bound and gagged.

 

“Thank the Eternals I can remain silent,” he muttered to himself. “My cover requires it.”

 

However, his nose picked up on a detail that made him worried for Rose. Roman prisoners were kept in a place called the oubliette, where the only thing to eat was stale bread and the only water came from the guards peeing on them. Rose smelled like she had been peed on. A lot, if his instinct was correct.

 

“Cease your futile struggle, child!” snapped the second guard. “Your wicked words shall soon be silenced in the arena. But it seems the Princeps wishes to have his fun with you before he sends you to your death. Your only hope of survival is to obey him in everything, and perhaps he will spare you as one of his slaves.”

 

Eight hoped his flinching remained hidden the huge fabric of the typical garb. It was just as well that Rose was not looking his way, or she might have recognized his eyes. Or not, if Ten was right and this was not who she seemed.

 

He let the guards lead them inside the Palace. That journey took quite a few minutes, and seemed a eternity to Eight because his thoughts were running wild. Yet it was not because of who he feared Rose was. It was what he feared for Rose.

 

Given how much she remained struggling, that alone would have been enough to remind Eight that Free Roman men felt it their duty to have sex – whether with a wife, a sex slave or a random girl – and that any girl not a virgin would have been seen as fair game. He had a sudden sinking feeling that Rose had been a victim of some attack by one or more males. He could even sense a few thoughts from her, about a boy from her time who appeared to have done so after deceiving her. And she seemed to particularly fear these two guards. No wonder she was panicking. Even if she was destined to be a thrall of the Moment she did not deserve this.

 

So, once they were in a deserted corridor, Eight – fueled by protective fury – acted. He turned quickly, slowing Time as he moved. His hands found the right spots on the guards' necks, which were mercifully exposed just enough, and used his fingers to force them into unconscious.

 

Rose stilled the instant the old woman turned into what seemed like a blur that knocked out the guards before solidifying back into the same woman. Horror mixed with surprise and hope until her arm was grabbed. Her eyes flashed, as if she were ready to give this old hag in front of her a piece of her mind.

 

“If you want to escape here and return to the Doctor, you'll keep absolutely quiet.”

 

Eight hid a smile behind the veil at her face, transformed by pure shock. She wasn't expecting that, and he was glad for it. “Now, I will unbind you, but I don't know if I can trust you to keep quiet. Even though you must know that speaking above a whisper will bring more of their friends. Do you understand that our survival depends on you obeying everything your friend and I say? Or you can expect Nero to have his way with you, no matter your thoughts on the matter. Then you'll either be his slave or sent to the arena to be killed by wild animals. Will you be quiet?”

 

Her eyes went huge and she trembled, but nodded immediately.

 

“Good,” he muttered as he made quick work of the ropes and then the gag. “Rose, did anyone do more than threaten you and urinate on you?”

 

The level of fear she was still in kept her silent, because she could only shake her head – although the vigor behind it strengthened the silent assertion.

 

Eight felt the air rush out of his lungs, along with a flood of tension. “Good. No one deserves that. Now, follow me!” he whispered, taking hold of her arm to make sure he knew where she was.

 

Rose, face frozen from the multiple shocks and the danger still present, still managed to find enough voice to whisper back. “What are you doing here?”

 

“Chasing a very bad alien. The Doctor has gone after him.”

 

“What's his problem? Why's he here?”

 

“To kill Nero.”

 

She frowned, losing some of her horror. “But, wasn't he bad?”

 

“The Great Fire is due to happen very soon. Nero must be alive or your precious image of him fiddling away as Rome burns won't happen. He needs to survive so Vespasian can take over at the right time.”

 

Screaming burst from nearby, and a flood of Romans raced toward them. Eight managed to draw Rose into a tight space to allow the stampede to escape. Their words crashed over each other. Except for one man's.

 

“Guards! Stop those two mad men in there!”

 

But the guards seemed just as determined to flee.

 

Eight had his scanner discreetly out, and breathed a small sigh of relief. “Well, that's Nero out of the way. Come on!”

 

They burst in to find Ten in a fierce hand-to-hand fight with an alien. The tall Humaniod was scaly, had a pointed head and his prominent brows were even more evident thanks to anger.

 

“Oh, my God!” Rose cried, recoiling at the very sight. “Is that a Draconian? They aren't related to Dragons, are they?”

 

The being roared, nearly throwing Ten off his feet.

 

“That's a derogatory _and_ racist term, Rose!” Eight snapped, grabbing a spear and using it to join the fight, creating another front for the being to fend off. “Draconians and Draggonians came from the same planet, but the latter were forced to find another homeworld.”

 

“Why can't I understand him?” Rose asked. “I thought the TARDIS translates everything.”

 

“He's swearing, and the TARDIS does not translate those,” Ten explained, grunting as he fought to disarm the creature. “Draggonians have some of the reputed duplicity associated with dragons of your lore, whereas Draconians are mostly known for being shockingly strict. But this Draconian is so evil that his own people call him a Draggonian – which the Draggonians take offence to!”

 

Although it was two against one, the Draconian was managing to use Ten as a shield against Eight. Despite the agility that he had – even with the heavy palla covering him – Eight could not find an opening to use. And that was with him in telepathic communication with Ten.

 

Rose could not stand aside. She looked around for something she could use and found a lit torch. “Take that, Pointy Head!” she cried, sticking it into his back when he was focused in the other direction.

 

The Draconian screamed, backing away from both the Doctors and dropping his equipment. Eight and Ten each grabbed them, but were too far away to stop it from falling against more lit items. The amount of oil ignited his skin, causing him to burn to death within seconds.

 

But before either Doctor would respond to that, the flame caught the cloths in the room on fire. And it burned with a greater intensity than expected.

 

The trio drew back as Ten said, eyes growing huge in realization, “Oh, that's the first flames of the Great Fire.”

 

“Oh, wonderful!” Eight snapped, at the end of his patience. “Now the god-forsaken fire turns out to be a stupid teenager's fault!”

 

Ten's face could not have been any more thunderous had he been about to unleash the Oncoming Storm. “That it is part of history doesn't change how it could have been some other way. Come on! TARDIS is this way!”

 

The panic caused by the fire ensured that they passed through unmolested. Romans screamed and ran amok as the fire spread thanks to the abundance of flammable materials.

 

It seemed like forever despite the silence from Rose, who had to use part of her costume to avoid the smoke getting into her lungs. At long last, they made their way to Ten's TARDIS.

 

Eight slowed as Ten unlocked it. “How did you get so close?”

 

“I think I landed before he did. Now get in!”

 

They filed in and Eight closed the doors behind him. Then he paused. “Wait, what happened to the outer doors?” he whispered.

 

“That fire can't get inside, can it?!” cried Rose.

 

“I told you, the assembled hordes couldn't get in,” Ten snapped. “And they were a far greater threat. Oh, friend! Going to help?”

 

Eight rushed to the controls, face contorting around his huge eyes at the sight of the redesigned Control Room even as he helped with the controls themselves to dematerialise. “What did you do to it?!”

 

“The TARDIS redecorated. Had the energy to do it.”

 

“What are you two talking about?” shouted Rose.

 

“Just because you can shout now doesn't mean you have to,” Ten interjected before Eight could. The way his nose was twitching said that he felt offended by the smell coming from Rose. Although as to what the focus of his offense was, it was not obvious even to his earlier self.

 

The TARDIS' sounds stopped as the ship came to a sudden stop. Everyone wobbled on their feet, but not enough to fall over.

 

“There. Your ship's outside. See ya around,” said Ten, finally smiling at his earlier self. As if trying to protect his dignity.

 

Eight scowled. “Yeah, see ya,” he said to him, feeling like it was too little and too late.

 

The path outside took him by where Rose had grabbed a column to stay on her feet. She smirked as he passed by. “It suits you,” she mocked, clearly recovering from her ordeal.

 

He refused to answer her and merely opened the door, slamming it behind him.

 

“Rose!” he heard Ten yell through the TARDIS, which said something about how upset he was if he could be heard through the defenses. “Just because some Romans went number one on you doesn't give you the right to poke fun at your rescuer!”

 

Although it made him less tense to hear that, Eight did not stick around to hear the rest. He promptly rushed to his TARDIS and opened the doors. Once inside the closed inner doors he sagged against them. The Old Girl chimed softly, attempting to comfort him.

 

But nothing got through to him. A second later he was tugging the palla off even even as he rushed to the Wardrobe. “Back to my normal clothes! I feel like I need to bathe in acid after that. When will I feel freed from seeing that reminder of my past?! Will I ever have someone who actually stays with me?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case anyone was confused by the terms used in this chapter:
> 
> Vestal Virgins: like the girls in the Sybil, they dedicated their lives to their temple. These were some of the few women who could walk around unmolested in Rome. Read a little about them and Roman sexual politics, and you'll see why Eight and Ten were both right to be worried for Rose's sake.
> 
> stola: the basic clothing a Roman woman wore, and something definitely seen in those statues. Call it the equal to the toga, I guess.
> 
> palla: A virtuous Roman woman wouldn't be seen out in public without this heavy cloth over her stolla, wrapped in a similar yet not identical way to the cloak-like one the Roman men were seen. I watched a woman get helped into wearing one, and all I could think was how heavy it looked.


	7. The Ood Odds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, I posted a little early. Merry Christmas!
> 
> Oh, and the first part of the next story is going up today. Enjoy that! :D

The Doctor sucked in a breath, eyes going huge and fixed on his companion. “You can't mean that,” he whispered.

 

“I was right. It is terrible out here-”

 

She cut herself off as they heard the sounds of banging against the door outside.

 

“Donna, please, I'll get us out of this and I will show you that the good makes the bad easier to cope with. Just please don't make me take you home!”

 

There was no time for Donna to answer or react to his pleas and wide-eyed stammering. There was a loud thud, and the door opened.

 

 _“_ They're with the Ood, sir,” came the faint sound of a guard's voice.

 

The Doctor stood and closed the door of the cage, locking himself and Donna inside with the Ood. He smirked in the face of the bewildered guards. “Oh, **w** hat were you going to do, then? Arrest us? Lock us up? Throw us in a cage? Well, too late! I beat you to it!”

 

Donna winced. “Doubt it'll last.”

 

She was proven right as the guards promptly opened the doors and seized them both. The Doctor and Donna remained resolutely silent as they were cuffed and taken back to the main building. There they were handcuffed to some pipes.

 

The man in the suit, addressed by the guards as Mr Halpen, scowled at them. “Why don't you just come out and say it? FOTO activists! You want to tell the universe that the Ood are sentient and have emotions.”

 

Not knowing what was going on rarely left the Doctor without words. Although that deserved a retort. “If that's what Friends Of The Ood are trying to prove, then yes!”

 

Mr Halpen's face did not change. “The Ood were nothing without us, just animals roaming around on the ice.”

 **  
“** That's because you can't hear them,” the Doctor protested. “They don't communicate the same way you do.”

  
“They welcomed it!” Mr Halpen claimed. “It's not as if they put up a fight.”

 **  
“** You idiot!” Donna shouted, recovering most of her fire. “They're born with their brains in their hands. Don't you see, that makes them peaceful! They've got to be, cos a creature like that would have to trust anyone it meets.”

 

The Doctor's eyes widened in appreciation. “Oh, excellent point!”

  
“Thank you!” she snapped.

  
“The system's worked for 200 years. All we've got is a rogue batch. But the infection is about to be sterilised.” He spoke into the nearby _intercom. “_ Mr Kess? How do we stand?”

 **  
“** Canisters primed, sir.”

 

The Doctor's lips pursed at the sound of the man who had apparently been responsible for the claw going after him. Not that the voice knew that as Kess continued.

 

“As soon as the core heats up, the gas is released. Give it 200 marks and counting.”

 **  
** The Doctor caught on. “But you're going to gas them?!”

 

Mr Halpen smiled. “Kill the livestock. The classic foot-and-mouth solution from the olden days. Still works.”

  
An alarm's wail interrupted Halpen's tirade. “What the hell?” he demanded. He was followed by a man in a lab jacket, with “Dr. Ryder” listed on the tag, checking what was happening outside.

  
The Doctor and Donna glanced at each other. They couldn't attempt to escape with some guards and the one Ood serving Halpen present. But that didn't stop the Doctor trying to figure out how much leeway he had in reaching or potentially breaking the cuffs. After all, he did have far more strength than most species, even factoring this slimmer than usual body.

 

All efforts had to stop when Mr Halpen and Dr Ryder returned to the room.

 **  
“** Change of plan,” said Mr. Halpen to the guards.

 

 **“** There are no reports of trouble off-world, sir, it's still contained to the Ood Sphere,” said Dr. Ryder.

  
“Then we've got a public duty to stop it before it spreads,” Mr Halpen decided.

  
“What's happening?” demanded the Doctor.

 

Mr Halpen's scowl tightened. “Everything you wanted, Doctor. No doubt there'll be a full police investigation once this place has been sterilised, so I can't risk a bullet to the head. I'll leave you to the mercies of the Ood.”

 

While he wanted the man out of the room, the Doctor also wanted more answers, and if there was one thing he knew he was good at when held captive it was talking. “But Mr Halpen, there's something else, isn't there? Something we haven't seen!”

 **  
“** What d'you mean?” asked Donna, trying to follow his line of thought.

 

“Think about it, Donna. A creature couldn't survive with a separate forebrain and hind brain, they'd be at war with themselves. There's got to be something else, a third element, am I right?” he added, looking right at Mr. Halpen.

 **  
“** And again, so clever!” came the mocking reply.

 

The Doctor ignored it. “But it's got to be connected to the red-eye, what is it?”

 **  
** “'It' won't exist for very much longer,” Mr. Halpen added, now smirking. “Enjoy your Ood.” He promptly left, followed by Dr Ryder, the Ood servant and the two guards.

 

Immediately the Doctor and Donna attempted to work themselves free. “If only I could reach the Sonic,” he muttered. “Come on!”

 

 **“** Well, do something! You're the one with all the tricks! You must've met Houdini!”

 

He quickly decided there was no point in denying or equivocating. “Three lives ago. He was nearly turned against me. And these are really good handcuffs! His weren't that good.”

 

Donna groaned, “ Oh, well I'm glad of that. I mean, at least we've got quality!”

 

“My species is stronger than it looks. You know that from Christmas Eve.”

 

The door suddenly opened and three red-eyed Ood entered, silencing the argument and ceasing their struggles. Independently, they tried to come up with something that would connect to them.

  
“Doctor, Donna, friends,” blurted the Doctor.

  
“The circle must be broken,” added Donna.

 

The red-eyed Oods still advanced. So they talked over each other.

  
“Doctor, Donna, friends!”

  
“The circle must be broken!”

  
“Doctor, Donna, friends!”

  
“The circle must be broken!”

  
“Friends, friends, friends!” cried the Doctor as the balls came within inches of their heads.

 

But at the last second, the Ood stopped and bowed their heads.

 

“What's happening?” Donna whispered.

 

The Doctor's fear was marred by a frown. “I can hear the natural-born Ood. It's like they're calling to them.”

 

“Well, let's hope that they listen,” she prayed aloud.

 

After what seemed like an eternity even to the Doctor, the Ood looked back up at the Doctor and Donna, and to their relief the red-eye was gone.

 

The voice they had heard from Delta 50 came, and the balls flickered with the words. “Doctor. Donna. Friends.”

 

The pair spoke at the same time. “Yes! That's us! Friends! Oh, yes!”

 

“Would you please release us from these cuffs?” asked the Doctor.

 

The two on the ends did so.

 

As soon as they were free, Donna pleaded with the Ood. “Keep yourselves safe!”

 

The Doctor led her outside, holding her hand tightly.

 

“Scared to lose me, are you?”

 

“Yes. Give me a chance to prove things can still be beautiful despite the horrors!”

 

Donna was shocked into silence. His admitting that said volumes about how frantic he was – not merely over the situation but also the idea of her leaving. She wondered how much it was due to the unresolved PTSD he seemed to suffer from.

 

Once outside they looked around on the yard that had transformed into a real battlefield. Guns rattled everywhere, people shouted in panic, and fires were erupting everywhere.

  
“I don't know where it is! I don't know where they've gone!” the Doctor cried, looking around and turning to help himself look. He had to let Donna's hand go a few times, but he always took it again.

 **  
“** What are we looking for?” she asked, hoping to focus him and be of help.

  
“Might be underground, like some sort of cave, or a cavern, or... something else I haven't thought of yet-”

 

Another explosion threw them off their feet. Mercifully, they could push themselves up within seconds. And neither had any smoke in their lungs.

  
“You all right?

 

She nodded, out of breath. But almost as one, they both sensed they were being watched. When they looked up, they saw the Ood servant watching them.

 

He made no effort to attack them, but nodded. “You may follow me. I will lead you to Warehouse 15.”

 

“Are you going to lead us into a trap?” the Doctor asked. “Or are you really on our side?”

 **  
** “What's your name?” Donna added.

 

“Odd Sigma,” he answered, bowing his head again.

 

The manner bothered the Doctor, but he stood. “Donna, things are getting out of hand. If we accept his help then we might be able to help him!”

 

She accepted his hand to get to her feet. “Okay, then. Lead on, Macduff!”

 

As Sigma walked off between two buildings, the Doctor had to smile. “Shakespeare fan, Donna? You have very hidden depths. Why keep them hidden?”

 

“You met my mother. You met my friends. Think someone interested in woodworking, languages, science and literature would be made welcome?”

 

He scowled. “Clearly I need to pay a few visits.”

 

“Don't bother. It's not worth it.”

 

“If you are leaving me, I am not going to let you be hurt by them again.”

  
Donna was spared from replying because Sigma stopped in front of a locked door. On the side was a sign for Warehouse 15. The Doctor quickly opened the door with the sonic. They hurried inside and soon stopped by the balustrade. Their eyes fixed on the thing below: a giant brain.

 

The Doctor smiled in awe. “The Ood Brain. Now it all makes sense, that's the missing link, the third element, binding them together. Forebrain, hind brain, and this - the telepathic centre. It's a shared mind, connecting all the Ood in song.”

 

They heard footsteps approaching and looked up to see Mr Halpen appear, pointing a gun at them.

 

 _“_ Cargo,” he said. “I can always go into cargo. I've got the rockets, I've got the sheds. Smaller business, much more manageable, without livestock.”

 

 **“** He's mined the area,” said Dr. Ryder.

 **  
“** They're gonna kill it?” Donna gasped.

 

Mr Halpen's disgust poured out in his words. “They found that...thing centuries ago beneath the Northern Glacier.”

 **  
“** Those pylons,” mused the Doctor.

 

Donna figured it out instantly. “In a circle. 'The circle must be broken.'”

 **  
“** Damping the telepathic field. Stopping the Ood from connecting for 200 years. If it weren't so evil I could almost praise the ingeniousness of it,” the Doctor added, voice wound tighter than a string.

  
“And you, Ood Sigma, you brought them here,” stated Mr. Halpen. “I expected better.”

 

Sigma shocked the Doctor and Donna by walking calmly away from them. “My place is at your side, sir.”

 **  
“** Ha-ha! Still subservient. Good Ood.”

  
“If that barrier thing's in place, how come the Ood started breaking out?” Donna said, hoping to buy time.

  
“Maybe it's taken centuries to adapt. The subconscious reaching out in all sorts of ways.”

 **  
“** But the process was too slow,” interrupted Dr. Ryder, whose growing smile startled the Humans and the Doctor. “Had to be accelerated. You should never have given me access to those controls, Mr Halpen. I lowered the barrier to its minimum. Friends Of The Ood, sir. It's taken me ten years to infiltrate the company. And I succeeded.”

 

Mr. Halpen's scowl did not even flicker. “Yes. Yes, you did.” Then he smiled and pushed Dr Ryder over the balustrade. The screaming man was absorbed by the brain.

  
“You... murdered him!” Donna cried.

  
“Very observant, Ginger,” Mr Halpen said, as scornful as Lance had been. He had no reaction to the Doctor slowly stepping between Donna and him, or Donna trying to stop him. “Now, then... can't say I've ever shot anyone before. Can't say I'm gonna like it. But it's not exactly a normal day, is it? Still...”

 

Sigma suddenly appeared with a glass in hand. “Would you like a drink, sir?”

  
“I think hair loss is the least of my problems right now, thanks.” The tone was barely polite.

 

Without flinching, Sigma stepped between the Doctor and Mr Halpen. “Please have a drink, sir.”

 

Now Mr. Halpen was a little rattled. “If... If you're going to stand in their way, I'll shoot you too.”

  
“Please have a drink, sir.”

 **  
“** Have... Have you... poisoned me?” accused Mr. Halpen, his body starting to tremble as his voice slurred.

 **  
“** Natural Ood must never kill, sir.”

 

“Wait, wait wait!” interrupted the Doctor. “What is in that glass?”

  
Sigma turned to face the Doctor. “Ood-graft suspended in a biological compound, sir.”

 

Mr Halpen was finally scared. “What the hell does that mean?!”

 

The Doctor's eyes widened as Sigma's actions finally made sense. “Oh, dear...”

  
“Tell me!” shouted Halpen, eyes looking unfocused.

 

Addressing all of them, the Doctor mused aloud. “It's a funny thing, the subconscious. Takes all sorts of shapes. Came out in the red-eye as revenge. Came out in the rabid Ood as anger. And then, there was patience. All that intelligence and mercy, focused on Ood Sigma. How's the hair loss, Mr Halpen?”

 

Mr. Halpen touched his head, and a bunch of hair came easily out between his fingers. “What have you done?” he whimpered at Sigma.

 

 **“** Oh, they've been preparing you for a very long time. And now you're standing next to the Ood Brain. Mr Halpen, can you hear it? Listen...”

 

The head of Ood Operations began choking. “What have you...? I'm...not...!” He dropped the gun, no longer able to hold on to it and bent forward in pain. He then grabbed the skin on his head as if to scratch an itch. Instead, it peeled off as he pulled, revealing an Ood scull below. Tentacles popped out of his mouth and his hands lost their old tone. He had transformed completely into an Ood.

 

Only the shock of watching it kept Donna from drawing back. As it was, she had to hang on to the Doctor's arm. “They... They turned him into an Ood?!”

  
“Yeah...” he murmured, not fully believing his own eyes.

  
'He's an Ood,” she whispered.

 **  
“** I noticed that.”

 

The Ood who had been Halpen made a sneezing action and sound, and a small hind brain fell into his hands. Not even the Doctor's keen eyes could be certain it came from the mouth, although the connection looked like it.

 **  
“** He has become Oodkind,” Sigma said, calm-as-you-please. “And we will take care of him.”

 

Donna tried to get her bearings, and failed. “It's weird, being with you. I can't tell what's right and what's wrong anymore,” she muttered to the Doctor.

 

He reached for her hand and gave a tiny, reassuring smile. “It's better that way. People who think they know for certain tend to be like Mr Halpen.”

 

The detonators beeped, interrupting them.

 

“Ooh, we can't have that now!” He reached the controls and twisted one. Immediately the countdown stopped and the sounds silenced. “That's better. And now... Sigma, would you allow Donna and me the honour?”

 

Sigma bowed his head. “It is yours, DoctorDonna.”

 

“Help me out?” he asked Donna, hand over the specific controls.

 

Donna moved slowly and, just as she had in Pompeii, helped him. Only this time it was to turn off the electric field around the brain, not destroy an entire city.

 

Immediately the Doctor could hear something and his grin was as bright as the sun at midday. “Oh, that's magnificent! Stifled for 200 years, but not any more. The circle is broken. The Ood can sing!”

 

Over the sound of his voice, a song began. Calling it beautiful and joyous belittled the music. The Doctor laughed in delight, and Donna looked up in awe.

 **  
“** I can hear it!,” she cried. “It's...”

 

“I know. There are no words,” he said, taking her hand as they watched as Sigma and Halpen lifted their _palms into the air and joined with the song._

 

/=/=/=/=/=/

  
It seemed like hours before the Doctor and Donna returned to the TARDIS, accompanied by several Ood. And of course Sigma led the group. They had seen proof that the fighting stopped, and the Humans acting as guards were smart enough to stop fighting when they saw the threat had ended. Perhaps the unknown had bewildered them enough to look to the nearest leader. Who turned out to be another member of Friends Of The Ood.

 

With Halpen transformed and the rest of the leadership dead or disgraced, it was not long before the remaining Ood Operations personnel accepted the change. Only minutes. Most probably knew they were facing criminal charges back home and would be arrested as soon as more authorities arrived.

 

“I can confirm that the message has gone out,” the Doctor said. “That song resonated across the galaxies, everyone heard it. Everyone knows. The rockets are bringing them back. The Ood are coming home. Not common that I do so much good in spite of the deaths.”

 **  
** Sigma drew his ball from the holder on his uniform with the same grace he always had. “We thank you, DoctorDonna. Friends of Oodkind. And what of you now, will you stay? There is room in the song for you.”

 

The Doctor blinked. “Me? Oh, that's not-that's not possible. I've... I've still got a home and... I sort of have a song of my own. But thank you.”

 

The Ood leader stared at him, unblinking as he tilted his head. “I think your song must change again soon.”

 **  
** The Time Lord frowned. “And that means...?”

 **  
“** Every song must end, and your story is yet to express the song the visions of the Ood have shown. Your song has changed from what an evil song wishes it to be, and that song will act again. It has already acted today, placing your song in greater danger than it originally planned,” Sigma added, turning slightly to face Donna.

 

“Yeah... thanks,” the Doctor quietly said. He promptly turned to Donna, trying for calm. “Well, what about you? Do you still want to go home?”

 

Donna looked at his barely concealed plea, and slowly smiled. She had reached her decision hours ago, and it was time to calm him. “No. Definitely not. You're right; the good we do makes all the difference, and it's far more than I have open to me back home.”

 

His shoulders sagged, tension melting like fresh snow in the sun as his smile broke out. “Good! Well, I suppose we'll be off.”

  
“Take this song with you,” Sigma announced. Seconds later, after he returned his ball to storage, all the Ood lifted their palms and began singing a new song.

 

Donna's eyes watered at the sound. It did not hurt the way the song of captivity had. This felt warming and reassuring, like hope had been rediscovered and it filled her with a quiet pride in them. “We will.”

  
“Always,” the Doctor promised.

 

Sigma paused in his contribution to the song to speak again. “And know this, DoctorDonna. You will never be forgotten. Our children will sing of the DoctorDonna, and our children's children. And the wind and the ice and the snow will carry your names forever. Treasure the journey, and do not let the songs of wickedness and deception destroy you. For those will appear in many ways.”

 

“Oh. Thank you,” the Doctor said for lack of a better thing to say. He then opened the door and let Donna in first.

 

As soon as the inner doors closed, Donna followed the Doctor to the screen. He turned it on to show the Ood standing outside, singing. “Let's give them something to sing about,” he said as he started the dematerialisation sequence. “You know which buttons to press.”

 

Donna smiled, glad that he had taken her words at Christmastime to heart. She might have just started, but aside from that enormous eddy they ran into it had gone well.

 

Seconds later, once Donna could tell they were in the Vortex, she had to ask. “What did he mean, that the evil song put me in greater danger?”

 

The Doctor sighed and leaned against the Control console. “Do you remember Evelina and the Sybil speaking of a different me supposed to be there?”

 

“Yeah. Someone with very different hair, for starters. What does you changing history have to do with anything?”

 

“There's only one 'song' Sigma could mean. Only one who would be angry that things are different, and want to make you leave to attempt to bring things more like she wanted.”

 

Donna stilled as her eyes fixed on him. “You mean...?” She nodded at the rotor rather than speak it.

 

He nodded. “Thank you for not speaking it. It means that we must be on our guard, Donna. Things will likely become increasingly dangerous for both of us. Are you still willing to risk it?”

 

Her eyes flashed with fire. “I lived through almost everyone at school teasing me for my hair. I dealt with the girls mocking me for not being a stick figure. I survived things that drove others to self-harm. I'm not going to let some ancient weapon's remains that infested the TARDIS like a bad smell drive me home.”

 

The Doctor smiled softly as he set the TARDIS to drift safely in the Vortex so they could unwind. “Well, we'll have to give her some adventures to be angry about. But first, tea and supper.”

 

“Oi, I'll fight for an alternative when she tries giving us a Kubiashi Maru situation,” Donna added as they went into the inner rooms for their repast.

 

“Kubi-what?” he blurted after a few seconds.

 

Donna laughed. “If we have some down time I'll have to show you. Got a telly and ways to see old Earth shows?”

 

“Of course! On formats you're yet to see. But which one is that from?”

 

Their voices faded. Meanwhile, the rotor's inner colors tinted to a strong green tinge, sending ominous vibrations from inside the core.

 

**THE END...**

 


End file.
